I only have one

"Would you be interested in acting in public office or politics?" they asked me at a lively dinner, while I gave my enthusiastic opinion on contemporary geopolitical and economic issues. 

To justify my negative answer, I shared a story I once heard from Marcos Lutz, the great executive former president of the Ultra and Cosan groups. Rubens Ometto, Cosan's main shareholder, asked Lutz why he had stepped down as CEO of the group, since the relationship between the two was very good and the group offered interesting challenges.

"Rubens, if I had three or four lives, one of them I would certainly dedicate entirely to the Cosan group. The problem is that I only have one."

Luciano Siani Pires

Linkedin post. May 2025

Original in Portuguese: “Você teria interesse em atuar em cargos públicos ou na política?”, me perguntaram num jantar animado, enquanto eu opinava entusiasmado sobre temas geopolíticos e econômicos contemporâneos. 

Para justificar minha resposta negativa, compartilhei uma história que ouvi certa vez de Marcos Lutz, o grande executivo ex-presidente dos grupos Ultra e Cosan. Rubens Ometto, principal acionista da Cosan, perguntou a Lutz por que havia deixado o cargo de CEO do grupo, uma vez que a relação entre os dois era muito boa e que o grupo oferecia desafios interessantes.

“Rubens, se eu tivesse três ou quatro vidas, uma delas eu certamente dedicaria inteiramente ao grupo Cosan. O problema é que eu só tenho uma”.

fear of being judged by others

Like plenty of other things in our lives, part of our aversion to uncertainty comes from our fear of being judged by others. We are, in a very real way, afraid of what the tribe thinks and the prospect of being thrown out into the mystery and uncertainty of the wild.

If we put ourselves in uncomfortable situations, maybe we’ll look awkward. People will think we’re “weird.” If we push out limits and try to achieve new things, maybe we’ll fail. People will think we’re a “failure.”

“If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid.” – Epictetus

You’re never going to achieve your true potential if you’re hooked by what other people think. In fact, you could change your life overnight if you simply abandoned the notion that other people’s opinions matter. Life goes on, opinion-heavy or opinion-lite.

Gary John Bishop

Unfu*k Yourself: Get out of your head and into your life by Gary John Bishop. Harper One. 2017. p.108, 109

facts are not up for debate

Our job is to cover the news, but our mission is to spread truth and to stop misinformation.

Some things don’t have two sides. Facts are not up for debate. And when the president of the United States, from the White House, tries to tear down one of the bedrocks of American democracy, a fair and free election, that is no longer news. It is propaganda.

This is not censorship. There is no mandate that we air everything a political leader says. That is state-controlled media. His remarks weren’t about political differences but undermining Americans’ confidence in the democratic process.

We simply chose not to use our platforms to amplify this dangerous message, with the potential to incite violence, in real time when it was impossible to provide facts and context simultaneously. We covered the speech carefully and fully afterward. 

Nicole Carroll is the editor-in-chief of USA TODAY

"Backstory: We cut off President Trump's remarks about a "rigged" election Thursday night. Here's why." USA TODAY. November 6, 2020

 

the frogs and the jackdaws

Thank goodness we don't understand the language of ravens, jackdaws, crickets, frogs, and pigs. Otherwise we'd probably worry about what they think too. Yet how many people seem more brainless than the frogs and the jackdaws? Does that make any difference to us? No. We let what they say upset us and render our lives utterly miserable.

Dio Chrysostom (ca. 40–ca. 120) 

His Meditations, ~200 BC

make your self-worth independent of other's opinions

If your self-worth depends on others holding you in high regard, you'll likely become a people-pleaser. Not everyone needs to like you, nor do they have to agree with your lifestyle. Evaluate the merit of criticism you receive, but never allow one person's opinion determine your self-worth.

Amy Morin

"9 Ways to Avoid Giving Away Your Personal Power" Inc.com. Dec. 21, 2015

having skin in the game

Over the entrance to a small paelstra –– a wrestling school — in ancient Greece was emblazoned this short phrase: Strip or Retire.

During this period, men competed in sports and exercised in the nude. Thus the inscription served as a challenge to each man entering the gymnasium: come in, participate, and struggle — or keep out. Mere spectators were not welcome.

To be part of this wrestling school, you were literally required to put your skin in the game.

In antiquity, such a requirement extended far beyond athletics; a man could not participate in civic life, business transactions, war, or philosophical debates unless he had metaphorical skin in the game — unless he was willing to risk his life, and what was even more valuable, his honor....

In times past, those in power accrued both privileges and responsibilities — with greater status came greater exposure to risk. It was surely good to be king, but you also had the “Sword of Damocles” hanging over you; your decisions could bring dire consequences, and people were always gunning to take you down. Military generals, rulers, criminal bosses, and even prominent writers and scientists accepted both greater status, and with it the persistent stress, fear, and anxiety of failing and making the wrong move.

In the modern age, this dynamic has been flipped. As philosopher Nassim Taleb argues in Antifragile: “At no point in history have so many non-risk-takers, that is, those with no personal exposure, exerted so much control.”...

In contrast to those who keep the upside of risk-taking while foisting the downside on others, are those who continue to stake their very reputation and whole being on their words and actions. Among those with skin in the game; entrepreneurs, business owners, artists, citizens, writers, and laboratory and field experimenters (as opposed to scientists and researchers who work only in the realms of theory, observation, and data-mining). These are the folks who take their own risks, and keep both their own upside and their own downside.

There is also a tier above this group — those rarified few who have put not only skin, but soul in the game. These are they who take risks, accept potential harm and hardship, and invest themselves in something not only for their own sake, but on behalf of others. These are the folks who make up the heroic class. Included amongst those with soul in the game; saints, warriors, prophets, philosophers, innovators, maverick scientists, journalists who expose fraud and corruption, great writers, artists, and even some artisans who add insight and meaning to our cultural storehouse through their craftsmanship and wares. Rebels, dissidents, and revolutionaries of all kinds are also of course worthy of the title....

Influencing others without skin in the game is dishonorable. As [philosopher Nassim] Taleb succinctly puts it: “I find it profoundly unethical to talk without doing, without exposure to harm, without having one’s skin in the game, without having something at risk. You express your opinion; it can hurt others (who rely on it), yet you incur no liability. Is this fair?”...

That greater participation and/or power requires greater skin in the game is truly one of the fundamental tenets of human morality.

There is no growth and joy without risk and struggle. While putting one’s skin in the game is both moral and honorable, it is not an entirely altruistic endeavor. It also greatly benefits yourself — not always monetarily (though it can), but in refining your character and your manliness. Manhood is struggle — full stop. Outsourcing the risk side of your pursuits puts you in the position of spectator rather than doer. As Jay B. Nash writes in Spectatoritis, while sitting in the stands is safer, it is far less satisfying than being in the arena.

Brett and Kate McKay

Strip or Retire: Why Every Man Should Have Skin in the Game. The Art of Manliness. 8/9/2015

unleash ideas

Global team leaders who unleash idea... are those who: 1)ask questions, and listen carefully; 2) facilitate constructive argument; 3) give actionable feedback; 4) take advice from the team and act on it; 5) share credit for team success; and 6) maintain regular contact with team members. Members of global teams whose leaders exhibit at least three of these behaviors are more likely than global team members whose leaders exhibit none of these behaviors to say they feel free to express their views and opinions (89% vs 19%) and that their ideas are heard and recognized (76% vs 20%).

Sylvia Ann Hewlett

"Creating a Culture Where Employees Speak Up" Harvard Business Review. 1/8/2016

sit down before a fact

Sit down before a fact as a little child, be prepared to give up every preconceived notion. Follow humbly wherever and to whatever abysses nature leads, or you shall learn nothing.

Thomas H. Huxley 

As quoted in The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History by John M. Barry. Penguin. 2005. p.13

it so appears to me at present

I made it a rule to forbear all direct contradiction to the sentiments of others and all positive assertion of my own. I even forbade myself agreeable to the old laws of our Junto, the use of every word or expression in the language that imported [implied] a fixed opinion, such as "certainly," "undoubtedly," etc.; and I adopted instead of them, "I conceive," "I apprehend," or "I imagine" a thing to be so or so, or "It so appears to me at present." 

When another asserted something that I thought an error, I denied myself the pleasure of contradicting him abruptly and of showing immediately some absurdity in his proposition and in answering I began by observing that in certain cases or circumstances his opinion would be right, but that in the present case there "appeared" or "seemed to me" some difference, etc. 

I soon found the advantage of this change in my manners: The conversations I engaged in went on more pleasantly; the modest way in which I proposed my opinions procured them a readier reception and less contradiction; I had less mortification when I was found to be wrong, and I more easily prevailed with others with others to give up their mistakes and join with me when I happened to be in the right. And this mode, which I at first put on with some violence to natural inclination, became at length so easy and so habitual to me that perhaps for these fifty years past no one has ever heard a dogmatical expression escape me. And to this habit (after my character of integrity) I think it principally owing that I had early so much weight with my fellow citizens when I proposed new institutions or alterations in the old, and so much influence in public councils when I became a member.

Benjamin Franklin

Autobiography and Other Writings by Benjamin Franklin, edited by Russel B. Nye. 1949. p.84

a big idea will change you

You don't know if your idea is any good the moment it's created. Neither does anyone else. The most you can hope for is a strong gut feeling that it is. And trusting your feelings is not as easy as the optimists say it is. There's a reason why feelings scare us. 

And asking close friends never works quite as well as you hope, either. It's not that they deliberately want to be unhelpful. It's just they don't know your world one millionth as well as you know your world, no matter how hard they try, no matter how hard you try to explain. 

Plus a big idea will change you. Your friends may love you, but they don't want you to change. If you change, then their dynamic with you also changes. They like things the way they are, that's how they love you- the way you are, not the way you may become.

Ergo, they have no incentive to see you change. And they will be resistant to anything that catalyzes it. That's human nature. And you would do the same, if the shoe was on the other foot.

With business colleagues it's even worse. They're used to dealing with you in a certain way. They're used to having a certain level of control over the relationship. And they want whatever makes them more prosperous. Sure, they might prefer it if you prosper as well, but that's not their top priority. 

If your idea is so good that it changes your dynamic enough to where you need them less, or God forbid, THE MARKET needs them less, then they're going to resist your idea every chance they can.

Again, that's human nature. 

GOOD IDEAS ALTER THE POWER BALANCE IN RELATIONSHIPS, THAT IS WHY GOOD IDEAS ARE ALWAYS INITIALLY RESISTED.

Good ideas come with a heavy burden. Which is why so few people have them. So few people can handle it.

Hugh MacLeod

"Ignore Everybody." Gapingvoid. 7/31/2004

a formula for self-worth

In Robert S. McGee’s The Search for Significance, we learn that if the devil had a formula for self-worth that he would want you to buy into, it would be: Your self-worth is equal to your performance plus the opinion of others. If you’re constantly looking to make yourself feel good or worthwhile based on your performance or the opinions of others, you’re constantly going to be chasing an elusive, frustrating fantasy.


Ken Blanchard and Phil Hodges.

The Servant Leader: Transforming You Heart, Head, Hands & Habits. J.Countryman. 2003. 

challenge your certainty

Our beliefs and assumptions are skewed by personal biases and not to be fully trusted. Often they haven't been tested or revised based upon new information. They reflect partial knowledge and are only partially wise. Resist acting instinctively on your beliefs and assumptions, and open your mind to the subject's potential complexity. Before registering your opinion, enter into a state of not knowing. Zen Buddhists call this the "beginner's mind." Robert Kegan and Lisa Laskow Lahey (Immunity to Change, Harvard Business School Publishing, 2009) would describe this as moving from the "self-authorizing mind" to the "self-transforming mind." 

Once you learn to distrust yourself, it's easier to trust others. The goal isn't to locate the most trustworthy or least fallible individual and hand all decision-making to this person; the goal is to share the load and get everyone to feel ownership in the organization's direction and operations. This doesn't mean that everyone should participate in every decision, but decision-making needs to be more evenly distributed. 

Gary B. Cohen

"Leadership: How to Ask the Right Questions" Bloomberg Business. 9/29/2009

polls or public opinion of the moment

For a while the mood overall seemed one of a death watch over his own presidency. Dwight Eisenhower had defeated Adlai Stevenson by a landslide. New poll results showed that only thirty two percent of the people approved of the way Truman was handling his job, and forty three percent thought it had been a mistake for the United States to go to war in Korea. But polls meant no more to him now than ever before. “I wonder how far Moses would have gone if he had taken a poll in Egypt,” he wrote privately in an undated memo to himself. “What would Jesus Christ have preached if he’d taken a poll in Israel? It isn’t polls or public opinion of the moment that counts, it’s right and wrong.”

David McCullough
Truman Simon and Schuster. 2003. p.1086, 1087.