A Noetic Moment Under the Acropolis

Jane and I in Athens.

In June 2025, our family shared a final dinner in Athens after a week of sailing and biking through the Greek Islands. Our table sat at the foot of the Acropolis, the Parthenon glowing above us in the warm evening light. As we looked up at those ancient ruins—where Socrates and Plato once examined the very nature of life—I felt something unusual stirring in me. At the time, I couldn’t name it. But it was almost noetic, a quiet inner recognition, as if the place itself were whispering reminders across 2,400 years of history.

Standing where those great thinkers once questioned everything, I sensed a gentle nudge: leadership begins not with pronouncements, but with inquiry. Over the decades, without ever naming it, I’ve shaped my leadership style around questions—probing, listening, inviting others to think for themselves. It’s the same instinct that guided me in real estate, now guides me in philanthropy, and often guides our conversations as a family. I’ve never believed in lecturing. I know I carry my own biases, so I’ve always tried to ask instead: How do you see it? What are we missing? What opportunity lies ahead?

Only later did I understand that this echoes the very method born in the shadow of the Acropolis.

Just today, Liz and I discussed the future of the Foundation, and she mentioned that in law school, they were formally taught the Socratic method—an approach built entirely on questions. I had to smile. I’ve been using that method instinctively my whole life. To realize that this ancient discipline, honed by Socrates to sharpen minds and reveal truth, now underpins our work in free-market education, financial literacy, and civic engagement—that felt like a full-circle moment.

The Foundation, at its heart, isn’t about telling young people what to think. It’s about giving them the tools, confidence, habits, and intellectual courage to think for themselves. That aligns perfectly with the spirit of the place where our family sat together that night: a city where the examined life wasn’t a slogan—it was the operating system of civilization.

And as I consider our own country today, I see a nation struggling with hostility toward differing views—people talking past one another rather than listening, forgetting that disagreement is not a threat but a cornerstone of a free society. Respecting and understanding other perspectives is not a weakness; it is a strength. If we took seriously the Delphic instruction carved into stone—Know thyself—perhaps we could sustain this Republic in ways that past democracies failed to do.

What I felt that night beneath the Acropolis may well have been the gentle echo of ancient thinkers reminding me what leadership truly demands:

• Curiosity.

• Humility.

• A willingness to question—and to be questioned.

• And above all, a desire to help others discover their own answers.

If that’s noetic insight, I’ll gladly take more of it.