We all know that if you want to begin a speech, a lecture, or spark an interesting discussion, few things work better than using a quote or aphorism.
With the proliferation of the internet, access to such quotes became so easy that it eventually led to overuse. As a result, famous quotes from ancient philosophers, groundbreaking scientists, and all sorts of celebrities and thinkers are used daily, even in parliamentary discussions among well-educated representatives. For a while, I was no exception either. But soon, it became clear that whatever I was bringing up was already brought up by someone else and thus left my audience cold. And sometimes, even the authenticity of such quotes was questionable.
Later on, I decided to create my own quotes, and that produced even more mixed results: some would be impressed by the ability to summarize a powerful notion within a sentence or two, but at the same time, alienated the speaker from his audience, placing him on an intellectual throne of sorts, causing more controversy than consensus.
Fortunately, the problem got solved as soon as I created the Inside Information Group: An invitational Facebook and Linkedin group where top professionals agreed to give me an interview for our select audience.
Of course, creating a quotes generator was hardly among my priorities in making such a group. But being determined to ask questions (no matter how simple sometimes) that are scandalously missed by mainstream interviewers, paired with the evident worth of the interviewed thinkers, produced a long line of tremendous quotes that both enlighten and probe.
The two criteria for choosing someone for an interview, apart from being exceptional in what they do, were 1) to be relatively unknown or at least not overexposed, or 2) to be able to explore avenues of thought unlike the ones explored in their interviews so far, without fear of losing their audience.
Every one of them rose to the challenge and gave me and our readers the honor and privilege of getting to know them and their work a bit better. Nowadays, if I use a quote, I use one of my guests’ from Inside Information. This way, not only are novel ideas used to spark a discussion, but people also get to hear about someone they probably haven’t heard of, although (in my opinion) they should.
Admittedly, I have fallen a bit behind with all the constant traveling and multiple demanding activities: there is a pile of finished interviews I haven’t had the chance to post yet, then there are interviews I should conduct soon with already committed professionals and finally pursue the highly selective shortlist of exceptional personalities that I intend to invite.
Nevertheless, what we have done so far succeeded in its target by forming a substantial bulk of information unavailable elsewhere. It showed that history is written (as it always was) not only (or as much) by the leaders we all hear about but also by leaders right next door.