1/ Meet Don Schmincke: didn’t plan on being a leadership guru. He started as a bored high school dropout in Baltimore, was dragged back by the cops to finish, and somehow wound up at MIT pushing the boundaries of electrical engineering and early AI.
2/ The secret? “No plan. There still isn’t a plan.” Don Schmincke has always followed what fascinated him—even if it meant experimenting on his new “favorite species”: humans.
3/ 🔍 His curiosity led to funding self-guided expeditions across the globe: “Every year I would fund an expedition or two…there was never any plan, just the pursuit of learning something new.” From tribes in Bhutan to African cultures, he chases what makes humans tick.
4/ Happiness isn’t just a metric—it was the national strategy in Bhutan! Don Schmincke tells a wild story of meeting Sherpas who looked at our “space shuttles and skyscrapers” and replied, “But you don’t look happy.” Oof, modern life called OUT.
5/ What did he do with all this? Became a guide for CEOs, using what he learned in the wild to help leaders adapt & thrive. “Corporations are just different tribes—with their own belief systems and cultural rules.”
6/ The most powerful leadership skill? Learning how to LOSE.
“Winners are the ones that know how to lose. Fall down 7 times, get up 8. Never stay down.”
7/ Failure isn’t the end. It’s the secret ingredient. Before their story makes it to the books, every accomplished entrepreneur knows: it’s a string of failures strung together by relentless persistence.
8/ Why don’t business books tell you this? Don Schmincke calls out the industry: “35,000 management books published every year…but the same issues have been around for 700 years.” Maybe it’s time we STOP looking for easy checklists and start embracing the messy stuff.
9/ “Leadership is unsafe. It’s uncharted waters. Winning comes from relying on things that really work—even if they’re hard, messy, and counterintuitive.”
10/ His best advice? Trust is great—until it’s not. “There’s a point when trust becomes stupid. Test, don’t assume.” Ouch, but true for any business leader.
11/ Generosity matters—but be smart about it. Give when it betters the world, but don’t let yourself get burned: generosity is a spectrum, not an on-off switch.
12/ In the end, Don Schmincke’s biggest impact comes from teaching—learning, sharing, questioning, and helping others grow. “When a student comes back years later and says, you changed my life—that makes it all worth it.”
If you’re a leader, aspiring change-maker, or just a fellow human, remember: keep getting up, stay curious, and don’t wait for a plan to start exploring.
What failures have taught YOU the most?
