It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things.
Leonardo da Vinci
Renaissance man: a man who excels in multiple fields. The original renaissance man, Leonardo da Vinci, drew much of his early knowledge from scholarly texts owned by his father and friends. Besides becoming a master painter and sculptor, he was also an excellent singer and designer of weapons, buildings and machinery. His broad range of interests led to his educating himself in a wide range of disciplines and he continued to excel at drawing and teaching even after his right hand became paralyzed.
Fast forward almost five hundred years to the Renaissance worker of today. Curious as to how technology works and can be applied to their job, they have a never ending desire to learn about a variety of things, most of them not related to their business. In a world where the emphasis is put on becoming an expert, the renaissance person of today lives in the opposite way and knows more than just a little bit about many things.
With the ability to work in a variety of non-related fields at the same time and always on the lookout for ways to connect those fields, they understand the links that may not be obvious to others. Modern life is putting a demand on people to look back in history, to find that what once worked for others that lived in a similar economic climate, can also work today. Putting all of your eggs in one basket (or profession), is not the way of the future. Having myriad talents and abilities; being willing to continue to learn is what will bring the small business community forward in the healthiest manner possible.
Life is pretty simple: You do some stuff. Most fails. Some works. You do more of what works. If it works big, others quickly copy it. Then you do something else. The trick is the doing something else. Leonardo da Vinci
image by bixentro on Flickr
