Becoming a (More) Conscious Entrepreneur
The story of becoming of Rui Quinta
Hello Friends,
With each passing month, as I deepen my own journey of living into maturity more intentionally, a question that insists on accompanying me is: what does the Waking Youth project want to become? And how do I want to show up as a creator?
Episode by episode, more clarity seems to be emerging, slowly yet confidently. In a social playground where attention is often scarce, as is nuance and patience, more than offering you decontextualized nuggets of knowledge that please our dopamine receptors instantaneously but might not stick, my hope is that each interview we craft at Waking Youth allows you to meet, as much as possible in one brief hour, the worldviews of our guests. My angle is the personal: how they became who they are, why and what for. And what might we take from their stories as substance to question, broaden, and refine our own journeys towards maturity.
In line with this emerging clarity, this month’s conversation reels in the story of becoming of Rui Quinta, the co-founder of With Company, a transformative design consultancy, and Toyno, a space experience design studio. As someone curious about both the potential and shadows of entrepreneurship, I was intrigued by Rui’s approach to his ventures, where he seems to marry a vitality and outgoingness typical of the entrepreneurial archetype with more quiet, thoughtful, and humble virtues.
There’s so much that stayed with me from our time together that I’m hesitating which insights and curiosities to share with you. Among them, comes to mind Rui’s precocious venture with his cousin selling pine nuts by the road not far from where he lived as a kid. Also, Rui’s reflection around the decision to close one of his businesses - Peixaria Centenária - the fish shop that stretched out in time and boldness the tradition of his family business, in part due to his concern for its impact on the environment, and, perhaps (he’s still deciding if this story is true), a desire to slow down.
Perhaps the most moving revelation of all was Rui’s timid and refreshing confession that maybe, if there’s something he’d like to tell his younger, twenty-year-old self, it would probably have something to do with using the heart as a mechanism of thinking when making decisions, whether in business or in life.
“I think I explored so many things. I had so much fun. I met so many incredible people. I took risks. And I think that in the end, it’s really interesting that in the middle of all these things, I found a criteria: using the heart as a mechanism of thinking. This is something I identify myself with as an entrepreneur - I have to relate to the things that I do. I cannot start a business for the sole reason of making money. I don’t know how to do that. I’m not an entrepreneur who knows how to do that. To be honest, I would still use my heart as a way of making decisions.”
Enjoy this one and, as usual, let me know what comes up for you in the comments section.
Warmly,
Carlota
Listen
In this episode, we listen deeply to the story of Rui Quinta, a precocious pine nut seller who came of age as a self-proclaimed typefreak and graphic designer. In recent years, as he discovered the post-it-world of design thinking, Rui has transformed into a more systemic designer and conscious entrepreneur. He’s the co-founder of With Company and Toyno, a frequent lecturer at several universities, and the program director of Systems Thinking for Innovation at the Porto Business School.
Should we start our own business now or learn with others first? What does it mean to lead a business with consciousness? And how might the awareness of our inevitable mortality inspire us to participate more fully in the life-affirming story of our times? – are just some of the questions we sit with.
Listen on: Spotify | Apple | Youtube
Go Deeper
A suggestion from Rui - Learning to Die in the Anthropocene: Reflections on the End of a Civilization. A short book about how the awareness of our inevitable mortality, personal and collective, might liberate us to engage more fully in the life-affirming narrative of our times.
A voluntary highlight of With Company, one of the companies Rui co-founded, a transformative design consultancy engaging in projects ranging from land mapping to labor integration for refugee communities. In the last years, they’ve become, for me, a reference of what a more conscious approach to business can look like, in Portugal and beyond.
Also within the context of our interview, Less is More: How Degrowth Will Save the World is an insightful and accessible summary of how capitalism came to be the dominant economic system, its flaws, and what more environmental and socially conscious alternatives might look like.
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