by Ernest Oriente

Posted August 22, 2001

Coachng Success

Entrepreneurial Advice from Archimedes©
by Judy Feld

Many business people now look to ancient philosophers for business advice...with resourceful authors offering practical translations to modern life and business. We are seeing surprising relevance in the principles and discoveries of these ancient philosophers. Some recent books and articles contain and explain the words of famous and familiar great philosophers: "Plato, not Prozac! Applying Philosophy to Everyday Problems"; "If Aristotle Ran General Motors: The New Soul of Business"; "Socrates, for Pleasure and Profit," (from The Economist, June 2000). Victims of failed dot-com startups are looking to Epictetus, a noted Stoic philosopher, to
teach people how to stay serene when they have lost everything. Epictetus led a life of exemplary contentment, simplicity and virtue, living in a small hut furnished with only a bed and a lamp.

If entrepreneurs are learning from the great philosophers, then why not take a look at some other sources of ancient wisdom and discover further examples of great advice? One of my favorites is the Greek mathematician Archimedes, generally considered to be one of the three greatest mathematicians of all time.

Archimedes was born in 287 B.C. in Syracuse, Sicily (part of ancient Greece). He studied at Euclid's school in Alexandria, Egypt, which was one of the biggest cities of the time and was named after Alexander the Great, who was taught by Aristotle. Let's extract some key business principles from the extensive discoveries, inventions and innovations that came from the work of Archimedes.

1. Successful entrepreneurs use principles of leverage: Archimedes, in about 240 A.D, said (more or less), "Give me a lever long enough and a place to stand and I will move the earth". He was excited to have found proofs of the mathematical laws of the lever. Today's version of
the very long lever are technological in nature...and we use these technology tools to run global businesses from virtual offices. As SOHO professionals we can work from anywhere, collaborate with people from all over the world, and reach markets everywhere.

Coach's Comment

For effortless marketing and maximum efficiency/effectiveness make your
websites and E-mail newsletters the cornerstone of your marketing plan.
That's leverage!

2. Successful entrepreneurs think big: Ancient Greeks had no convenient system of notation or simple way of writing very large numbers. Archimedes saw this as a severe barrier toward
thinking big, so he invented a system of numbers based on the Greek "myriad", or 10,000. In "The Sand Treatise" he set forth the concepts of a "myriad of myriads"...and multiplied these numbers by themselves a myriad times...and again..until he reached a huge number that we would express as a 1 followed by 80 million billion zeros. This, said Archimedes, "is a quite
adequate number."

Coach's Comment

What do you need to create to think this big?

3. Successful entrepreneurs can take a problem and slice it thin: Archimedes requested that a diagram of a sphere and cylinder be engraved on his tombstone, since the discovery of how to calculate the volume of a sphere was one of his proudest achievements. He applied the technique of infinite fine slicing that earlier Greeks had applied to the area of a circle
(two-dimensional). Archimedes then used this same technique to compute other important volumes and areas.

Coach's Comment

The entrepreneur's tip: break a problem or challenge or complex procedure
into smaller and smaller steps or tasks; create your own method of infinite
slicing...and the solution will appear!

4. Successful entrepreneurs know how to pay attention: Many people know the story of Archimedes running naked through the streets of Syracuse crying "Eureka,Eureka!" ("I have found it!") What had he found? Archimedes has discovered the basic law of hydraulic engineering. Archimedes was asked by the King to do some detective work (or consulting?) to see if silver had been substituted for gold in the King's crown. While taking a bath Archimedes noticed his own weight in water spilling over the edge of the tub and realized that a solid immersed in liquid loses as much weight as the weight of the water it pushes aside. He was
later able to weigh amounts of silver and the gold equal to the weight of the
crown...and catch the court crown maker in his crime. Are you paying attention to all the little things that could have a big impact on your business?

Coach's Comment

For some tips on developing and using your powers of observation you can request the article "Stop, Look and Listen--For Market Research". Send an E-mail to soho@coachnet.com with "Listen" (without the quotes) in the subject line .

5. Successful entrepreneurs keep on innovating: Here are some additional accomplishments of Archimedes...

He invented the compound pulley. He invented the hydraulic screw, for raising water from a lower to a higher level . He discovered pi (but please don't blame him for troubles with geometry) He invented the catapult. He discovered a mirror system that burned invader's boots and ships by focusing the sun's rays. What does your venture need in order to succeed? What can you invent that will catapult your business to its greatest success?

The End Of The Story

Archimedes was buried in Syracuse, where he was born, grew up, worked, and died. He remained true to his passion and his principles to the end. A soldier from a conquering army confronted Archimedes while he was drawing circles in the sand. Archimedes refused to go with him, saying, "Do not disturb my diagrams". The Roman soldier killed him on the spot.

HUMOR FROM THE NET

While we are shining a spotlight on ancient Greece, let's travel across the Mediterranean to Carthage, home of Hannibal. Hannibal, the commander in chief of the Carthaginian army in Spain at the age of 26, marched with his army of 40,000 men and numerous elephants from Spain over the Alps into Italy where he inflicted tremendous defeats upon the Romans. Hannibal allows us a seamless segue to our humor piece. What a surprise to re-discover and re-print a humor piece that contains both mathematicians and elephants! [Reprinted from SOHO #19, May, 1997.] This piece takes a pot shot at some of my favorite occupations. Here's a bonus question: I have been four of these things in my checkered past. Can you guess which
four?

HUNTING AN ELEPHANT

And how do YOU hunt elephants?

1. MATHEMATICIANS:
Mathematicians hunt elephants by going to Africa, throwing out everything that is not an elephant, and catching one of whatever is left. . Experienced Mathematicians will attempt to prove the existence of at least one unique elephant before proceeding to step 1 as a subordinate exercise.

Professors of Mathematics will prove the existence of at least one unique elephant and then leave the detection and capture of an actual elephant as an exercise for their graduate students.

2. COMPUTER SCIENTISTS:

Computer Scientists hunt elephants by exercising Algorithm A:

1. Go to Africa.
2. Start at the Cape of Good Hope.
3. Work northward in an orderly manner, traversing the continent alternately east and west.
4. During each traverse pass,
a. Catch each animal seen.
b. Compare each animal caught to a known elephant.
c. Stop when a match is detected.

Experienced Computer Programmers modify Algorithm A by placing a known elephant in Cairo to ensure that the algorithm will terminate.

Assembly Language Programmers prefer to execute Algorithm A on
their hands and knees.

3. ENGINEERS:
Engineers hunt elephants by going to Africa, catching gray animals at random, and stopping when any one of them weighs within plus or minus 15 percent of any previously observed elephant.

4. ECONOMISTS:
Economists don't hunt elephants, but they believe that if elephants are paid enough, they will hunt themselves.

5. STATISTICIANS:
Statisticians hunt the first animal they see N times and call it an elephant.

6. CONSULTANTS don't hunt elephants, and many have never hunted anything at all, but they can be hired by the hour to advise those people who do.

OPERATIONS RESEARCH CONSULTANTS can also measure the correlation of hat size and bullet color to the efficiency of elephant-hunting strategies, if someone else will only identify the elephants.

7. SOFTWARE SALES PEOPLE ship the first thing they catch and write up an invoice for an elephant.

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