Memento Mori (Ep. 10)

The bold entrepreneurial journey of Attilio D’Agostino.

This is less of a blog post and more of a sales pitch. What I really want you to do is to just listen to the story. The toughest part of this story is that you will assume that you have heard it before. And, in the most existential of ways, that is true. But, in reality, you likely have not heard it. At least, not in a way that would inspire change.

I can only assume this because that was my posture when I first heard this story. I had a lifetime of assumptions based on well-intentioned platitudes that have been plastered on rustic home decor: “Carpe Diem.” “Live Like You Are Dying.” “Make It Happen Today!”

What I have for you is this: The life of the human that is featured on this latest episode of More Human is not at all like that. But it does offer a deep answer to this questions, “What would be possible for you and for the humans in your organization if you knew that today could be your last?”

As a leader in your organization, you are a person of vision.

And as such, you have faced the challenges that attain being a person of vision. You have a conviction, and there is something to which you are responding in the world. That, in itself, is complex. And if you have built an organization around you in support of that vision, then that is even more complex. You are bedeviled with distraction and forces that seemingly are opposed to you.

If those are circumstances you have faced, are facing or will face, then this story is for you. And you have not heard it before. Because this story will offer you a new lens with which to view your circumstances. It is not preaching. But Attilio D’Agostino’s story will force you to ask yourself: What if you cared nothing for the “artificial rules” that surround your goals? What if instead of allowing the internal and external voices that distract you from what you know to be most vital, you instead became stalwart in pursuing the life that matters the most to you?

This story is not one you have heard. It is not a bromide. It is not a theory. This is a real story of a human who lives with the physical specter of his mortality.

And, despite every reason to give up on the notion that this life has any meaning, he lives fully. Further, any attempt to cast him as a somehow remarkable human is met with his understanding of his own privilege and assets. And that understanding is what drives him to seek to create a more equitable world.

And how many of us — even the most self-aware — live this way? Few. And that is why you must hear this story.

Watch a beeped version of this podcast.

Who is in this episode:

Attilio D’Agostino
Photographer, Editor-In-Chief at ALIVE Magazine, Cofounder at Novel

Background:

Alive Magazine
Novel
Attilio’s Instagram

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Music Credits:

Shofunkan by Snarky Puppy
Balloons Rising, Cayon by AA Aalto, Creative Commons
Night Owl, Something Elated by Broke for Free, Creative Commons
Smoke by Rafael Archangel, Creative Commons