初心 | Beginner's Mind

I've grown wary of expertise. Not of deep knowledge or mastery, but of the mindset that often accompanies it – the subtle closure of possibilities, the hardening of perspectives. In rooms full of experts, I've noticed how quickly certainty can become a barrier to discovery. It has made me reflect deeply on what we gain, and perhaps more importantly, what we lose as we accumulate experience in any field.

What truly energizes me are those rare dialogues where ideas spark and evolve together – moments of genuine co-creation. In contrast, too many business conversations feel like carefully choreographed performances, where each participant arrives with a predetermined script, simply waiting for their cue to speak.

My relationship with language has been a constant teacher. Growing up, I ended up learning a new one every couple of years. This perpetual state of linguistic beginnership kept me humble – there's something uniquely grounding about stumbling through basic expressions in a new tongue. I found joy in language classes, perhaps because everyone shared this state of beautiful awkwardness, our interactions unburdened by pretense.

Now I witness this same phenomenon through my toddler's eyes. Time slows and expands as I watch him discover a line of ants crossing our path. He drops to his knees, completely absorbed in their journey, following their trail with pure fascination. His complete presence in such moments is contagious, and through our time together, my capacity for patience has grown exponentially. Every day, he teaches me that wisdom lies not in what we know, but in how openly we approach what we don't.

A cherished entrepreneur once gave me a gift bearing the ancient Greek wisdom "Wonder is the beginning of wisdom". While years in the same industry nearly pulled me into the comfortable trap of pattern recognition, I'm consciously working to break free. Each moment arrives fresh and unprecedented. My goal now is to unlearn as readily as I learn – to cultivate an empty mind that stands ready to embrace whatever opportunities the universe presents.