Where are talented people found?

Where are thriving entrepreneurs most likely to be located?

Eric Weiner in his amazing book The Geography of Genius: A Search for the World’s Most Creative Places from Ancient Athens to Silicon Valley, shares the following observation about how talent grows and thrives:

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Art critic Clive Bell said, “The essential characteristic of a highly civilized society is not that it is creative but that it is appreciative.” By that measure, Vienna was the most highly civilized society to grace the planet. Mozart didn’t compose for an audience but for audiences. One audience was the wealthy patrons: nobles, typically, including the emperor himself. Another audience was the city’s finicky music critics. A third was the public at large, middle-class concertgoers or dust-caked street sweepers attending an open-air, and free, performance. Musical Vienna was not a solo performance. It was a symphony, often harmonious, occasionally discordant, never dull. Mozart was no freak of nature. He was part of a milieu, a musical ecosystem so rich and varied it practically”

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Geniuses emerge in spaces where they are appreciated in large numbers by their communities.

Miles Davis was born and raised in Alton, Illinois, but his musical genius flourished when he went to New Orleans.

Why New Orleans? The home of jazz, there was a high appreciation of jazz.

A lot of classical musicians in South Africa relocate to Europe, to further and grow their careers there?

Why Europe? Because there is a high appreciation of classical music in Europe.

Elon Musk, left South Africa for the USA to become a high impact entrepreneur.

Why the USA? Because there is a high appreciation of the role and need for high impact entrepreneurs.

Albert Einstein left his country of origin and relocated to the USA, why? Because he felt his intellectual prowess will be appreciated more in the USA than his country.

Brazil is known to be a country where soccer is religion.

Germany is known to be country where engineering is a culture.

Italy, the home of the renaissance, is renowned for its high pedigree and appreciation in the arts.

It seems like geniuses grow and thrive where they are appreciated and valued.

If we want something, we need to appreciate it more.

We want greatness, we need to appreciate and celebrate greatness in our midst.

You want to be an entrepreneur? go to spaces that appreciate entrepreneurs, not tolerate them.

It is not enough to just have talent or brilliant ideas, for ideas to grow into great innovations, they need an environment that will nurture and grow them.

We need to create an environment at home, at work, in our communities, that appreciates, acknowledges and grows people we want to see in our midsts.

Appreciation, the hallmark of where geniuses grow and thrive.

People grow and thrive where they are appreciated, not tolerated.