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.
Cosimo de’ Medici was just another businessman until he established an elaborate favor network
in the early 1430s. He focused on doing good turns for Florence’s businessmen,
politicians, and religious leaders. Within a few years, everyone of influence in Florence
was beholden to Cosimo. Even the pope, to whom Cosimo gave large and favorable loans.
This tactic helped Cosimo run Florence behind the scenes,
becoming, as Pope Pius II said, “king in all but name.”
New science conducted in the Netherlands backs his technique. The researchers discovered that
when we do a favor for someone, the person is left with two conflicting emotions: the
negative emotion of indebtedness and the positive emotion of gratitude. The former, unsurprisingly,
tends to compel the person to assist us later. The latter makes them more likely to have our
back and consider us a friend. (Paradoxically, this second phenomenon works both ways:
The Benjamin Franklin Effect suggests that we also start to like the person we’ve helped.) Florence’s
heavy hitters didn’t just owe Cosimo, they also allied with him, solidifying Cosimo’s power.
The Dutch researchers found that our favors don’t have to be massive for us to see a return.
Study participants who received a small favor reported feeling
equally grateful and obligated to reciprocate as did the ones who received a big favor.
It doesn’t take much to help someone. In the time of Covid,
when we don’t mingle with our co-workers and can’t notice how they’re doing day-to-day,
it might be worth reaching out to ask a simple question:
Need any help? Our actions might pay off later on, win us an ally, and earn us a genuine friend.
Groundbreaking research from a team of scientists at Florida State,
Stanford, and the University of Minnesota called into question decades of psychological scholarship
when it drew a line in the sand between happiness and meaning. The two are
interrelated. But the scientists showed that while satisfying our own needs leads us to happiness,
it won’t necessarily lead us to meaning. The opposite is also true: Helping others
gives us meaning in life but doesn’t necessarily make us happy. And the extremes can be dangerous.
Consistently putting others first, the researchers say, increases stress and anxiety,
while regularly putting ourselves first can lead us to live a joyful but rather shallow life.
The Medici understood that satisfaction and power come from putting ourselves and others on an equal
playing field. The family, of course, was swimming in money. But historians point out that there were
plenty of other rich families in Florence at the time. The Medici endured because they used much of
their time, money, and influence to bolster the republic of Florence. Medici fortunes financed
beautiful projects like Saint Peter’s Basilica and Santa Maria del Fiore. They lent money to
the government for public works projects. They boosted societal well-being by commissioning
stunning public art, monuments, and libraries. In his 1974 biography of Lorenzo de’ Medici,
Cosimo’s grandson, the historian Hugh Ross Williamson wrote that Lorenzo would:
“Neglect no opportunity of protecting, increasing, adorning and raising this city,
but was always ready with counsel, authority and painstaking, in thought and deed;
shrank from neither trouble nor danger for the good of the state and its freedom.” The people of
Florence — from the dirt poor to the filthy rich — experienced better access to public services,
a stronger economy, and greater well-being. The Medici, meanwhile, could wield more influence.
The Medici nearly single-handedly took Europe out of the Dark Ages and ushered in the Renaissance,
a period perhaps best known for its art. The family funded the greatest works of Botticelli,
Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael. We can even thank the Medici
for the invention of the piano and opera. Their efforts resulted in a more beautiful
Florence — which also made for a more productive Florence. Researchers in the U.K.
found that people who worked in offices with interesting art were 17% more productive and
had fewer health complaints compared to workers in minimalist offices. When
employees could choose the art inside their workspace, their productivity jumped 32%.
Many of us have saved money in quarantine. Less commuting, eating out, drinking in bars, etc.
Why not invest some of that money into a more visually compelling workspace?
The U.K. research — and enduring legacy of one of the most powerful
political dynasties in history — suggests that it’ll pay itself back.