4 Lessons in Productivity and Leadership From the Family That Brought Us Stoicism

If you like Marcus Aurelius, you’ll love the Medici

Portrait of Italian banker and politician Cosimo de’ Medici (1389–1464), the first member of the Medici political dynasty that served as de facto rulers of Florence during the Italian Renaissance period. Photo: The Print Collector/Getty Images

Greek philosophy is booming today, with everyone from Silicon Valley bros to NFL teams studying the words of the Stoics.

We can largely thank the Medici family for this.

In the 1400s, Greece and its great works were walled off from the west. The Medici family was at the time building a banking fortune in Florence and making a series of brilliant political chess moves that made them de facto rulers of the city. One of those moves was to fund the translation of works by Plato, Epictetus, Hippocrates, Galen, and Homer. This brought the scholarship westward and, eventually, to us all.

But, like the philosophers they rediscovered, the Medici provided a blueprint for modern living. The impulse that led them to uncover scholarly work was part of a larger mission related to personal and professional growth — one in which they saw themselves as an important part of a much larger system. And the principles they pursued can make your day better right now.

Say “yes” more than “no”

Cosimo de’ Medici was just another businessman until he established an elaborate favor network in the early…