The Tao of Richard Saul Wurman
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Richard Saul Wurman is the founder of the legendary TED Conferences, TED MED, WWW, 555 and The Urban Observatory.
The first time I saw his face was in a June 1997 interview in Fortune Magazine which crowned him “The King of Access.” He was photographed in his Newport mansion’s white living room, reading with his feet up beside a wall-to-wall collection of erotic Mexican ceramics. He looked shamelessly self-indulgent in his throne, fittingly designed by Mies van der Rohe. I remember thinking: How do you get to live like that?
I just knew that one day I would meet the man. The universe gave me the chance in 2004, when a corporate client gave me carte blanche to organize the most creative VIP's event I could come up with, which I hosted at a private island in Venice, Italy (owned at the time by Dr. Edward de Bono, father of the concept of Lateral Thinking). I called Richard and he agreed to come, no speaking fee. It was a great success and the event paid for itself with just one deal.
Over the years, I stayed in touch and in 2009 I decided to visit him at his Newport, RI, mansion, where I recorded a 3-hour conversation on video. Finally, I fulfilled my dream of learning from the master about how to lead through ideas and how to engage my multiple interests to design a resonance platform.
After that visit, TheSircle Executive Club was born, allowing me to access what I enjoy the most: to discover wisdom in high achievers' powerful stories.
In April 2010, I hosted Wurman in Charlotte, NC, at The Ritz Carlton for interactive conversations on his life, curiosity, understanding and "intellectual hedonism." I documented the presentations as well, which captured quite a few gems.
Since then, I’ve taken the time to piece together concepts that presumably explain his worldview. I've synthesized his thinking into three core concepts that I call "The Tao of Wurman" - which I then unpack into 10 principles for action.
Tao means "the path" or "the way," and Richard's way are encapsulated in these concepts:
- Design your life to express your most essential desire.
- Provocative conversations promote the convergence of great ideas.
- Change starts from the individual rather than the collective
To share Richards' wisdom, I've created a Web Project that you can access for free here: "The Tao of Richard Saul Wurman: Understanding leads to Meaningful Action"
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