Financial Paintings for Parent and Child

If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales. 

Albert Einstein

About the Capitalists

Perhaps there are people that have made more impact on the world of finance or indeed established even more exceptional businesses or secured more personal wealth, but these are the ones – the 21 at the centre of my project – whose views and reflections I have found particularly engaging.

You know, I say publicly that I stand on the shoulders of giants. It was the cooks, the janitors, and the secretaries that introduced my race, and my melanin, and my gender to Corporate America.
Thasunda Brown Duckett

Many came from a family of established business success and enjoyed the advantages that wealth can secure. Other leaders had a less privileged start in life yet through their personal fortitude and endeavor, alongside parental or community support, managed to set themselves ambitions and that invariably meant setting themselves educational goals and expanding their horizons. 

There are so many people out there that are incredibly smart and gifted, but just for a couple of breaks, a couple of opportunities and some diligence …and persistence.

Anthony Scaramucci

About the Fairytales

In many of the stories the reader encounters characters who employ cunning tricks, gentle persuasion or feats of bravery to achieve their goals whether in securing status and a magnificent prize or just the opportunity to sup a bowl of soup.

And my parents always made it clear to me – and my dad was the first in his family to go to college – that your education is one part of who you are that nobody could ever take away.

Kenneth Griffin

Frequently the tales describe people embarking on life-changing journeys in which they are severely tested, in others the journey is more internal – quite as significant – but a transformation that involves a change in perception, of how to view one’s place in the world.

And together…

In Financial Paintings for Parent and Child two distinct narrative threads interweave across each painting’s surface and then…

Strange, even magical things happen. Straightforward corporate-style utterances describing aspects of leadership take on quite another meaning when placed within the context of the unfolding fairytale, and in return the tale too often assumes a different and unexpected aspect placed alongside a revealing personal insight.

And so, we borrowed from Aesop’s fable where slow and steady wins the race…So we love turtles and everything around us has turtles on it to remind us of being patient.

Mellody Hobson

Certain leaders point to the need for change – sometimes arguing for more equity or better worker remuneration – oftentimes these opinions find an echo in the voice of a character in the accompanying story.

Do you pay someone a wage that allows them, with their partner, to raise a child and not struggle but thrive, not strive but thrive?

Paul Tudor Jones

It’s when the two narratives come together, one from finance the other from a fairytale with roots possibly going back hundreds of years and shared across cultures, that quite unique notions are formed – ones to be shared between parent and child.

About the paintings

Each painting measures 105cm (41in) square. So, 600 or so words from the CEO/founder and 600 or so words of storytelling are combined to make one painting. I use metallic paints for the text and just two distinctive fonts – one colour/font for the CEO text and one for the storyline.  This means that were a painting to be hung in a child’s nursery, it could be shared in a low light.

By coincidence, the average age of the 21 founders and CEOs is pretty well the same as mine.

Financial Paintings for Parent and Child also includes:

Ray Dalio and The Magic Porridge Pot  

Carl Icahn and Uncle Tiger   

Robert F. Smith and The Musicians of Bremen   

Jim Simons and Rickay the Tuft  

Ilana Weinstein and The Twelve Dancing Princesses 

Thasunda Brown Duckett and The Miller’s Apprentice   

Kenneth Griffin and The Three Ridiculous Wishes 

Lynn Martin and Rapunzel   

Larry Fink and Stone Soup 

Henry Kravis and The Lion & The Mouse

Stephen Schwarzman and Rumplestiltskin

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