One of the greatest empires of all time, the Aztec Empire ruled over most of Mesoamerica for more than two centuries. In that time, and in the years prior to the alliance of the various smaller city-states, the Aztec people achieved magnificent technological feats. They built awe-striking pyramids, developed passionate pieces of art, and engineered impossible aqueducts and artificial islands – many of which are still around today. But, one thing many people don’t know is that they also #LeveragedUp
Will Smith, needs no introduction to many of us. In fact, many of us may not be able to picture one of the flat topped pyramids from the Aztec Empire, but I guarantee we can all picture the Fresh Prince with his 90’s neon hat and purple/green striped shirt.
A Zero Waste Society & A Creative Genius’ Brain Drain
As their empire grew resources were harder to come by. The Aztecs knew that in order to protect their prosperity, they needed to use resources wisely – and not let anything go to waste. The only difference between how the Aztecs #Leveraged up and how I’m suggesting we do it, is that our limited resource is intellectual capital.
As we grow in our careers and lives, we often become the victims of “brain-drain”. We just run out of creativity, of gumption, of that X factor that once made us great. It happens to all of us to a lesser or greater extent. At one point, event Will Smith took a creative hiatus – citing the sheer amount of creative work he was producing as the culprit.
“But when you put out one movie a year you sort of get backed up… I’ve been having creative fruit dying on my inner vine,”
Will Smith
Fortunately, Will Smith is back creating again. And you know what else he’s doing? He’s #LeveragingUp. Smith created his own media company – Westbrook Entertainment. He’s leveraging all the success he’s already had – placing the Fresh Prince series on HBO Max, creating spin offs for fresh prince, and using his media contacts for projects that have nothing to do with him as an actor.
Did Will Smith Intentionally Copy the Aztecs?
Of course not. He just did what all widely successful people do. He realized that he needs to leverage the work he already does. Steve Jobs called it synergy, people in the M&A space call it incremental earnings, I call it #leveragingup.
In a future post I’ll discuss how other insanely successful people #leverageup. I’ll also do a post about how everyday people can #leverageup