To younger generations of people, all caught up in living in the moment and experiencing new things, it might be difficult to understand why leaving a legacy matters. Even within families, it takes just three generations for the oral family histories to start fading. What chances do people have to be remembered for that long in a wider circle of people?
The question, though reasonable, completely misses the point of thinking about the legacy that’s left behind. The legacy people leave behind is nothing more than how they conduct themselves today. People in leadership positions, like Roberto Maggio, are keenly aware of this. That way, when Maggio says he wants to be remembered for his curiosity and stubbornness, he’s talking about the example he’s setting today. As is evident from his Other Places project, it’s something that he looks for in others, too.
Why Is Curiosity Important?
The benefits of curiosity cannot be overstated. Being open to new information and experiences can boost a person’s mood, increase their achievement levels in education and business, and help foster better relationships thanks to increased empathy, just to name a couple of benefits.
For Roberto Maggio, curiosity is one of the biggest drivers behind his passion for traveling. His other big passion, photography, goes hand in hand with traveling. The way he launched and built up the Other Places project, using the hashtag #otherplacesnet to allow people to send in photos chronicling people in the midst of a pandemic, is deeply rooted in his empathy and ingenuity, both of which are signs of curiosity. The bottom line is that it’s the people he meets and the opportunities that open up for him that are the best reward for his curiosity.
To this day, Maggio’s team spans five countries. The list of projects and businesses he’s been involved with over the years is even more impressive, and it spans IT (Hydra Group Eood), and tourism (Luxor SL), and business services (VR & Partners OOD), HeathCare (Riomed LLC), Software house (Ynot Technologies OOD), Real Estate (Spitia OOD). Maggio’s business achievements are a testament to how powerful a mix of curiosity and good business sense can be.
A Strong Case for Stubbornness
Being a business person and not having some stubbornness is hard. Being a serial entrepreneur running multiple ventures simultaneously and not having a healthy stubborn streak is madness.
There are plenty of situations where stubbornness might have helped Maggio with his business. Early on, he learned that there are no nights off, weekends, or holidays for people who work in the IT sector; their services have to be available when there’s a demand for them. Staying at it, day in and day out, is a feat that might be easier to do when someone is stubborn.
Stubbornness also works great when pushing through difficult situations. Maggio is a proponent of changing course when a venture is going under, but up until that point, it’s about persevering, and that might be easier for stubborn people. The Other Places project is in large part dedicated to people’s ways of dealing with the difficult situations caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Overall, however, what’s probably most important about the mix of traits Roberto Maggio wants to be remembered for is just how useful they can be. Curiosity teaches people to be open. Stubbornness teaches them to put their guard up and power through. In someone who knows when and how to deploy them, these two traits can be a mighty combination.
