December 16, 2025 • 19 mins
In this profound episode, Cris Zimmermann, Co-Founder of Medici Global Ventures, shares Medici principles for transitioning from success to lasting significance. If you struggle with emptiness despite wealth and unclear legacy impact, you won't want to miss it.
You will discover:
- How to foster multi-generational family and business continuity like the Medicis
- Why blending art, leadership, and strategy builds enduring influence
- What strategic planning secures your wealth and values for centuries
This episode is ideal for for Founders, Owners, and CEOs in stage , of The Founder's Evolution. Not sure which stage you're in? Find out for free in less than 10 minutes at https://www.scalearchitects.com/founders/quiz
Cris Auditore Zimmermann is a seasoned entrepreneur, global investor, and keynote speaker with over 25 years of experience. He emphasizes the importance of strategic planning and legacy building. He has founded more than 20 companies across five countries, authored Get Your House in Order, and co-founded the Medici Community. Cris empowers entrepreneurs to harness the timeless principles of the Medici legacy to build lasting success and impact.
Want to learn more about Cris Zimmermann's work at Medici Global Ventures? Check out his website at https://medicilegacy.com/
You can buy his book Get Your House in Order at https://medicilegacy.com/medici-box/
Mentioned in this episode:
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Scott Ritzheimer (00:00):
Hello, hello and welcome. Welcome once again
(00:03):
to the start, scale and succeedpodcast. It's the only podcast
that grows with you through allseven stages of your journey as
a founder. And there's somethingthat I see, particularly for
those in the latter parts of ourjourney. In stage seven, you
have built more than most peoplecould ever hope to build. You've
accumulated more resources, andwhether that be financial wealth
(00:25):
or relational wealth or networkwealth, and you're sitting there
in what most people would definesuccess, yet you're haunted by
this question, what do Iactually want to leave behind
because you look at those bankaccounts, but you still somehow
feel empty inside. You look atyour companies and wonder what's
going to happen when you'regone, what's going to happen
(00:47):
when they're gone, and yourealize you've been playing on a
field that's too small, and thisis especially true in stage
seven. Now it's not a newquestion, right? This dates back
hundreds, if not 1000s of years,and fortunately, we can look
back some of those years to findsome answers from those who have
gone before us, specifically a15th century banker of all
(01:08):
things, and to help us figurethat out is the one and only
Chris Auditore Zimmerman, who isa seasoned entrepreneur, global
investor and keynote speakerwith over 25 years of
experience. He emphasized theimportance of strategic planning
and legacy building. He'sfounded more than 20 companies
across five countries, authoredget your house in order, and co
(01:29):
founded the Medici community.Chris empowers entrepreneurs to
harness the timeless principlesof the Medici legacy to build
lasting success and impact.Well, Chris, welcome to the
show. So excited to have youhere calling in from Frankfurt,
Germany, if I'm correct,
Cris Zimmermann (01:44):
yes. Scott, greetings here from Germany. And
I love it that you have a Germanlast name as well.
Scott Ritzheimer (01:50):
I had another guest on the show, and he
corrected the pronunciation ofmy name for me, so I learned how
to say my name.
Cris Zimmermann (02:01):
It's Ritzheimer. It's very simple is
there's no there's no doubtabout how to pronounce your
name.
Scott Ritzheimer (02:08):
Oh, that's so funny. That's so funny. It's got
a little too much phlegm for me,but that's all right. So Chris,
you've done a thing or two inyour life. You've started 20
companies, five countries, andby just about any measure of
success, it's been remarkable,right? But in you tell the story
(02:28):
of, I believe it was back in2020, you found yourself having
a panic attack on a beautifulvacation in a wonderful place.
What happened? What led to this?And how did a story about an
Italian banker turn it allaround?
Cris Zimmermann (02:45):
Well, yes, I've been, I'm an entrepreneur, and
I've been building companieshere. I'm from Frankfurt,
Germany, and studied law atFrankfurt University and but
I've never really wanted to bein law. I've always been
creating companies, and beendoing that for many, many years,
but what was absolutely dramaticwas exactly that incident that
(03:05):
you just mentioned in 2020during the pandemic. Obviously,
different places around theworld had different ways on how
to handle the pandemic. Germanywas on a brutal lockdown for
about a year. We couldn't go toany restaurants. We couldn't go
out to fitness studios. Theyeven closed down golf courses
(03:25):
with the explanation of socialdistancing, which I have no idea
how you cannot have a socialdistance on a golf course. And
anyhow, I have a family. I'vebeen married for almost 25 years
to my wife, Andrea, and we'vegot three boys, and we had three
teenagers sitting here at homeplaying video games all day
(03:48):
long. Homeschooling didn't work,and it was just a terrible year
for us. I'm naturally more of anextrovert. I like to have
meetings. I like to go to theoffice. I like to fly around the
world and to the differentprojects and different companies
and and I couldn't do any ofthat, and then my wife wasn't
doing well. She had a she had ahealth issue with her heart, and
(04:11):
hit something like, like aburnout. Yeah, everyone was mad
at me because I was veryirritated at home, so we had a
house on fire, and that'sliterally why I called the book
that I wrote a couple of yearslater, get your house in order,
because that's literally what Ihad to do. I needed to get my
(04:32):
house in order. And I gotinspired on a vacation in the
beautiful city of Florence inItaly, when I learned more about
the Medici family, or the Medicifamily, specifically the
founding patriarch. His name isCosimo de Medici, and he
(04:52):
probably was the wealthiestperson in the 15th century. It's
a little bit more difficult tomeasure these things. Nowadays,
because their currencies aredifferent, but, but he was a
self made entrepreneur. Theystarted off as cloth merchants.
They went into banking, and thenthey built this incredible
banking Empire all over Europeand and as I was reading about
(05:14):
him, doing my moment or my time,really of crisis. And, you know,
I don't use this word crisislightly, because literally, it
didn't feel at all good formyself. It didn't feel good for
my family, and it also didn'tfeel good for a number of our
companies. Interest ratesstarted climbing during that
time. I had a number of dealsfall through, so also
economically and financially, itwasn't a good time for us as a
(05:37):
family. Yeah, I kind of starteddigging myself into someone who
lived 500 years ago, and and I,and this kind of sent me off on
a journey to really learn somefrom some some from some
families from the past on how doyou set up yourself, how do you
set up your family, and how doyou set up your business? And so
(05:59):
I can say that the last fewyears I've been on this quest of
learning more, and this is whatI'm very passionate about.
Scott Ritzheimer (06:06):
Yeah, it caught me because get your house
in order was not exactly what Iexpected from a title of a
business book and and so there'sthis interplay between our life
and entrepreneurship and howintertwined those are. But you
also think of you speak tosomething very specific, and
it's not one house, but four. Sowalk us through from your book,
(06:27):
the four different houses andwhy they're relevant to us as
entrepreneurs.
Cris Zimmermann (06:32):
Yeah. So that was actually what was so
surprising to me. So I hadalways learned about the Medici
family growing up in Germany.It's part of our normal high
school education that you learnthat in the 15th century, you
know, the Renaissance familythat literally, kind of became
the great patrons of the arts.They sponsored people like
Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo,Donatello, they had some Popes.
(06:54):
They worked themselves into theCatholic Church. They InterMed
with the house of Spain. TheyInterMed with the house of
friends. So I'd always knownkind of about them being kind of
this very extravagant,successful business family. But
when I started reading about thelife of specifically Cosimo, the
founding patriarch, I was soastonished that, literally, he
(07:16):
wasn't just successful on hisbusiness side, but it kind of
became obvious to me that he hadthe different areas of his life
in order. And, you know, this ishow this, you know, the title of
this book came about, and, and,and so I've structured the book
in a sense where I take peoplethrough this journey influence
in Italy, where there are thesedifferent houses, which most of
(07:39):
them you can still visit today.So the first one is what I've
called the House of personaldevelopment. So Cosimo built a
or bought a countryside homecalled Villa di Careggi, which
is just outside of Florence backthen. Now, is actually included
because the city has grown andit was so interesting. This was
(08:02):
a house where he countrysidehome where he would go, and I
literally found some quoteswhere he said that he goes there
to work on himself, and so, youknow, not to take care of
business. You know, even thoughhe had lots of people employed,
and he was running all kinds ofthings, but he literally had a
physical location where he, asan entrepreneur, would go to
(08:23):
work on himself. And so a fewthings that kind of stood out,
one, one of them was that in themornings, he would get up very
early to kind of work himself inthe garden, you know, water the
flowers, you know, perhaps planta few trees, and literally get
his hands a little bit dirty ingardening. Now, I'm not a
(08:44):
gardener, but I thought it'squite interesting for a guy who
can employ 1000s of people to dohis gardening. Yeah, he had a
location where he would spendtime, and he said that, you
know, it's almost like this gavehim, you know, fresh fresh wind
under his wings, and fresh airto breathe and and then he
found, then he then he startedassembling a library at the
(09:05):
villa dicareggi, which was veryastonishing. He lived before the
printing press was invented. Sohe grew up in a house where
there were three books, youknow, because there were no
books. No one had books around.But he went on this hunt for
books, actually, before heentered into kind of fully into
business, he had two years wherehe went scouting around the
world to collect books, ancientmanuscripts of Greek philosophy,
(09:31):
theology, books, all kinds ofWisdom literature, and brought
it back to his home. So by theend of his life, at his villa
dicareggi, he had this massivelibrary, which now is one of the
most fundamental Europeanlibraries we have in the whole
continent. And so he, as abusiness guy, was a reader. He
(09:52):
loved to read devout books,climb into the manuscripts of
Plato and Aristotle's andSocrates and, you know, and
that's why. You know, he and hisfamily is called the Renaissance
family, because they rebirthsome of the old, ancient wisdom.
Yeah. Anyhow, so he had, he hadthis place for personal
development. But then the other,you know, other kind of houses,
(10:13):
just to hint at that. So thevilla Medici, which is downtown
Florence, I call it the house ofrelationships. He was very much
a relationship manager. Youknow, he built his own family
there, but he also built verystrong relationships with popes
and and and kings from aroundthe world, and he would host
(10:35):
them at his place, and they sitaround the, you know, campfire
in the evening there in hishouse and and kind of share some
of these stories. And then hewould also host the artists. And
so build relationships with theartists. Like Donatello, for
example, lived with a manichifamily. They would discuss the
artworks over dinner. So houseof relationship is the second
(10:56):
1/3. One is the, you know, thehouse of influence is kind of
the political center, theSignoria in Florence that he
would go to in order toinfluence the city the good of
the city, get involved inpolitics. And the fourth one is
that, you know, the house ofbusiness, which is the manager
bank.
Scott Ritzheimer (11:09):
Yeah, there's so much in that that we could
unpack for hours. I think one ofthe the interesting things about
stage seven in particular, thatyou touched on just briefly, and
I'd like for you to expound on alittle more for us, is that it's
not just business, right? Soit's the personal development,
it's the relationship, and it'sinfluence, which I think is a
really, really key piece instage seven, that we're moving
(11:32):
away from control of everythingto influence in a much greater
scale. How did, how did he thinkabout influence, especially
toward the latter part of hislife?
Cris Zimmermann (11:42):
Yeah, Scott, great question, and that's very
true. So basically, this iswhere I find find myself after,
you know, after this 2020pandemic, I basically
reorganized my life and now ourcompany. So I own like 26 or 27
different companies around theworld. Mainly, I'm an investor.
Now I'm not operational anymore,so I handed over all operational
(12:05):
work, and now we run thingsthrough our Family Foundation,
which is all about not just, asyou say at the beginning of your
the different stages, kind ofthe hustle and the building out
phase, but it's really nowabout, how do you structure
things, not just for yourself,but also for your family, for
your kids, for your grandkidsand their kids and so forth, but
(12:27):
also for impact in this world.You know, at some point it's
really, you know, it's not aboutjust another deal. It's not just
about another investment, andwhether you have a few more
euros or US dollars on your bankaccount. It's really kind of
what kind of impact you want todo have in this world. And so
this is, you know, if you'veever been, have you, have you
(12:48):
been to Florence, Italy? Haveyou ever taken a trip? Not, I
have not Well, Scott, I'd loveto invite you, because that's
one of the things that I now do,is I, I invite business,
business families to come andjoin me on one of these trips.
Basically the Medici familyconstructed the city of
Florence. So, you know, everyPalazzo, every church, the
(13:09):
Cathedral, the museums thatpeople go to in Florence, they
all stem out of a buildingperiod where the Medici family
was in power and in influence.And so what is fascinating is
that they literally went beyondjust money, just creating a
successful business. They reallyinvested into culture and into
art and into the sciences andreligion, you know, and many of
(13:34):
the but today, that's why theycall the Renaissance family. And
so one of the great joys that Ihave now is to be thinking
through strategically. You know,how can I do that with my little
family, with with with my fewcompanies? You know? How can I
set them up? And that's where itgoes beyond just, let's say,
financial success. It alsoreally goes about impact in the
(13:56):
world.
Scott Ritzheimer (13:57):
It's so true. It's so true. Chris, there's
this question that I ask all myguests. I'm very interested to
see what you'd have to say. Butin the light of this
conversation and where you arein your journey, what would you
say is the biggest secret thatyou wish wasn't a secret at all.
What's that one thing you wisheverybody watching or listening
today knew?
Cris Zimmermann (14:14):
So that, basically what I'm what I'm
trying to draw out here. Thereare about 1000 books written on
the Medici family, and they'reall written by historians and
art historians, which arewonderful people to kind of
record the story of this family.But what I'm trying to draw out
(14:35):
is some of the principles thatactually help us, you know,
shape our lives and our familiesand our companies. And so I
almost feel like it's a it's amissing secret, that there are
principles that can help andguide us towards success,
(14:56):
significance and legacy. Andit's almost. We do not have to
walk in the dark, but there arethings we can learn and study.
And you know, it needs somebrain capacity, it needs some
good thinking, it needs someresearch, but there are things
we can work out that can help usin the present to be successful,
(15:19):
and that's what, what I think,you know, oftentimes, gets, gets
missed, that it's not just, youknow, the nice country that
you're born into, or the kind ofnice degree that you've got from
university, or some luck infinding some investors to invest
in your company, but there aresteps to take in order to set
yourself, your family and yourbusiness up for success and
(15:40):
legacy.
Scott Ritzheimer (15:41):
Yeah, so good Chris. There's this old Greek
proverb, I'm sure you're awareof it. It says society grows
great when old men plant treesunder whose shade they'll never
sit. And stage seven is rarefiedair. It's not often that we get
to see folks who have beenthere, let alone really looked
at how stage seven works and andmade that pathway easier for
(16:02):
those who follow in ourfootsteps. So thank you so much
for being on the show. Before Ilet you go, I have to know, how
can folks reach out to you andfind out more? Where can they
get a copy of the book?
Cris Zimmermann (16:11):
Yeah, so I've now a Family Foundation. We've
set up what we call the Medicicommunity, where we're involving
business families around theworld who really want to think
beyond, you know, just success.You know, how do you how do you
create a legacy? So, underMedici legacy.com Medici
legacy.com you can get adownload of my book. I just
(16:34):
wrote, actually, a second bookon the life of Lorenzo de
Medici, which is the which isthe grandson of Cosimo. And that
book is coming out very soon.It's called from success to
significance, and there are somelessons from the art and the
leadership of Lorenzo, managingsome leadership principles.
Yeah, I'd be very happy if you,or any of your listeners are
(16:55):
interested to really kind ofwork on the on the theme of
legacy. We've really created arealm of learning together. So
that's well, be happy to be intouch.
Scott Ritzheimer (17:06):
That's fantastic. Chris. Thank you so
much privilege and honor havingyou here with us today, and for
those of you watching andlistening, you know your time
and attention mean the world tous, I hope you got as much out
of this conversation as I know Idid, and I cannot wait to see
you next time. Take care.
Hello, hello and welcome. Welcome once again
(00:03):
to the start, scale and succeedpodcast. It's the only podcast
that grows with you through allseven stages of your journey as
a founder. And there's somethingthat I see, particularly for
those in the latter parts of ourjourney. In stage seven, you
have built more than most peoplecould ever hope to build. You've
accumulated more resources, andwhether that be financial wealth
(00:25):
or relational wealth or networkwealth, and you're sitting there
in what most people would definesuccess, yet you're haunted by
this question, what do Iactually want to leave behind
because you look at those bankaccounts, but you still somehow
feel empty inside. You look atyour companies and wonder what's
going to happen when you'regone, what's going to happen
(00:47):
when they're gone, and yourealize you've been playing on a
field that's too small, and thisis especially true in stage
seven. Now it's not a newquestion, right? This dates back
hundreds, if not 1000s of years,and fortunately, we can look
back some of those years to findsome answers from those who have
gone before us, specifically a15th century banker of all
(01:08):
things, and to help us figurethat out is the one and only
Chris Auditore Zimmerman, who isa seasoned entrepreneur, global
investor and keynote speakerwith over 25 years of
experience. He emphasized theimportance of strategic planning
and legacy building. He'sfounded more than 20 companies
across five countries, authoredget your house in order, and co
(01:29):
founded the Medici community.Chris empowers entrepreneurs to
harness the timeless principlesof the Medici legacy to build
lasting success and impact.Well, Chris, welcome to the
show. So excited to have youhere calling in from Frankfurt,
Germany, if I'm correct,
Cris Zimmermann (01:44):
yes. Scott, greetings here from Germany. And
I love it that you have a Germanlast name as well.
Scott Ritzheimer (01:50):
I had another guest on the show, and he
corrected the pronunciation ofmy name for me, so I learned how
to say my name.
Cris Zimmermann (02:01):
It's Ritzheimer. It's very simple is
there's no there's no doubtabout how to pronounce your
name.
Scott Ritzheimer (02:08):
Oh, that's so funny. That's so funny. It's got
a little too much phlegm for me,but that's all right. So Chris,
you've done a thing or two inyour life. You've started 20
companies, five countries, andby just about any measure of
success, it's been remarkable,right? But in you tell the story
(02:28):
of, I believe it was back in2020, you found yourself having
a panic attack on a beautifulvacation in a wonderful place.
What happened? What led to this?And how did a story about an
Italian banker turn it allaround?
Cris Zimmermann (02:45):
Well, yes, I've been, I'm an entrepreneur, and
I've been building companieshere. I'm from Frankfurt,
Germany, and studied law atFrankfurt University and but
I've never really wanted to bein law. I've always been
creating companies, and beendoing that for many, many years,
but what was absolutely dramaticwas exactly that incident that
(03:05):
you just mentioned in 2020during the pandemic. Obviously,
different places around theworld had different ways on how
to handle the pandemic. Germanywas on a brutal lockdown for
about a year. We couldn't go toany restaurants. We couldn't go
out to fitness studios. Theyeven closed down golf courses
(03:25):
with the explanation of socialdistancing, which I have no idea
how you cannot have a socialdistance on a golf course. And
anyhow, I have a family. I'vebeen married for almost 25 years
to my wife, Andrea, and we'vegot three boys, and we had three
teenagers sitting here at homeplaying video games all day
(03:48):
long. Homeschooling didn't work,and it was just a terrible year
for us. I'm naturally more of anextrovert. I like to have
meetings. I like to go to theoffice. I like to fly around the
world and to the differentprojects and different companies
and and I couldn't do any ofthat, and then my wife wasn't
doing well. She had a she had ahealth issue with her heart, and
(04:11):
hit something like, like aburnout. Yeah, everyone was mad
at me because I was veryirritated at home, so we had a
house on fire, and that'sliterally why I called the book
that I wrote a couple of yearslater, get your house in order,
because that's literally what Ihad to do. I needed to get my
(04:32):
house in order. And I gotinspired on a vacation in the
beautiful city of Florence inItaly, when I learned more about
the Medici family, or the Medicifamily, specifically the
founding patriarch. His name isCosimo de Medici, and he
(04:52):
probably was the wealthiestperson in the 15th century. It's
a little bit more difficult tomeasure these things. Nowadays,
because their currencies aredifferent, but, but he was a
self made entrepreneur. Theystarted off as cloth merchants.
They went into banking, and thenthey built this incredible
banking Empire all over Europeand and as I was reading about
(05:14):
him, doing my moment or my time,really of crisis. And, you know,
I don't use this word crisislightly, because literally, it
didn't feel at all good formyself. It didn't feel good for
my family, and it also didn'tfeel good for a number of our
companies. Interest ratesstarted climbing during that
time. I had a number of dealsfall through, so also
economically and financially, itwasn't a good time for us as a
(05:37):
family. Yeah, I kind of starteddigging myself into someone who
lived 500 years ago, and and I,and this kind of sent me off on
a journey to really learn somefrom some some from some
families from the past on how doyou set up yourself, how do you
set up your family, and how doyou set up your business? And so
(05:59):
I can say that the last fewyears I've been on this quest of
learning more, and this is whatI'm very passionate about.
Scott Ritzheimer (06:06):
Yeah, it caught me because get your house
in order was not exactly what Iexpected from a title of a
business book and and so there'sthis interplay between our life
and entrepreneurship and howintertwined those are. But you
also think of you speak tosomething very specific, and
it's not one house, but four. Sowalk us through from your book,
(06:27):
the four different houses andwhy they're relevant to us as
entrepreneurs.
Cris Zimmermann (06:32):
Yeah. So that was actually what was so
surprising to me. So I hadalways learned about the Medici
family growing up in Germany.It's part of our normal high
school education that you learnthat in the 15th century, you
know, the Renaissance familythat literally, kind of became
the great patrons of the arts.They sponsored people like
Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo,Donatello, they had some Popes.
(06:54):
They worked themselves into theCatholic Church. They InterMed
with the house of Spain. TheyInterMed with the house of
friends. So I'd always knownkind of about them being kind of
this very extravagant,successful business family. But
when I started reading about thelife of specifically Cosimo, the
founding patriarch, I was soastonished that, literally, he
(07:16):
wasn't just successful on hisbusiness side, but it kind of
became obvious to me that he hadthe different areas of his life
in order. And, you know, this ishow this, you know, the title of
this book came about, and, and,and so I've structured the book
in a sense where I take peoplethrough this journey influence
in Italy, where there are thesedifferent houses, which most of
(07:39):
them you can still visit today.So the first one is what I've
called the House of personaldevelopment. So Cosimo built a
or bought a countryside homecalled Villa di Careggi, which
is just outside of Florence backthen. Now, is actually included
because the city has grown andit was so interesting. This was
(08:02):
a house where he countrysidehome where he would go, and I
literally found some quoteswhere he said that he goes there
to work on himself, and so, youknow, not to take care of
business. You know, even thoughhe had lots of people employed,
and he was running all kinds ofthings, but he literally had a
physical location where he, asan entrepreneur, would go to
(08:23):
work on himself. And so a fewthings that kind of stood out,
one, one of them was that in themornings, he would get up very
early to kind of work himself inthe garden, you know, water the
flowers, you know, perhaps planta few trees, and literally get
his hands a little bit dirty ingardening. Now, I'm not a
(08:44):
gardener, but I thought it'squite interesting for a guy who
can employ 1000s of people to dohis gardening. Yeah, he had a
location where he would spendtime, and he said that, you
know, it's almost like this gavehim, you know, fresh fresh wind
under his wings, and fresh airto breathe and and then he
found, then he then he startedassembling a library at the
(09:05):
villa dicareggi, which was veryastonishing. He lived before the
printing press was invented. Sohe grew up in a house where
there were three books, youknow, because there were no
books. No one had books around.But he went on this hunt for
books, actually, before heentered into kind of fully into
business, he had two years wherehe went scouting around the
world to collect books, ancientmanuscripts of Greek philosophy,
(09:31):
theology, books, all kinds ofWisdom literature, and brought
it back to his home. So by theend of his life, at his villa
dicareggi, he had this massivelibrary, which now is one of the
most fundamental Europeanlibraries we have in the whole
continent. And so he, as abusiness guy, was a reader. He
(09:52):
loved to read devout books,climb into the manuscripts of
Plato and Aristotle's andSocrates and, you know, and
that's why. You know, he and hisfamily is called the Renaissance
family, because they rebirthsome of the old, ancient wisdom.
Yeah. Anyhow, so he had, he hadthis place for personal
development. But then the other,you know, other kind of houses,
(10:13):
just to hint at that. So thevilla Medici, which is downtown
Florence, I call it the house ofrelationships. He was very much
a relationship manager. Youknow, he built his own family
there, but he also built verystrong relationships with popes
and and and kings from aroundthe world, and he would host
(10:35):
them at his place, and they sitaround the, you know, campfire
in the evening there in hishouse and and kind of share some
of these stories. And then hewould also host the artists. And
so build relationships with theartists. Like Donatello, for
example, lived with a manichifamily. They would discuss the
artworks over dinner. So houseof relationship is the second
(10:56):
1/3. One is the, you know, thehouse of influence is kind of
the political center, theSignoria in Florence that he
would go to in order toinfluence the city the good of
the city, get involved inpolitics. And the fourth one is
that, you know, the house ofbusiness, which is the manager
bank.
Scott Ritzheimer (11:09):
Yeah, there's so much in that that we could
unpack for hours. I think one ofthe the interesting things about
stage seven in particular, thatyou touched on just briefly, and
I'd like for you to expound on alittle more for us, is that it's
not just business, right? Soit's the personal development,
it's the relationship, and it'sinfluence, which I think is a
really, really key piece instage seven, that we're moving
(11:32):
away from control of everythingto influence in a much greater
scale. How did, how did he thinkabout influence, especially
toward the latter part of hislife?
Cris Zimmermann (11:42):
Yeah, Scott, great question, and that's very
true. So basically, this iswhere I find find myself after,
you know, after this 2020pandemic, I basically
reorganized my life and now ourcompany. So I own like 26 or 27
different companies around theworld. Mainly, I'm an investor.
Now I'm not operational anymore,so I handed over all operational
(12:05):
work, and now we run thingsthrough our Family Foundation,
which is all about not just, asyou say at the beginning of your
the different stages, kind ofthe hustle and the building out
phase, but it's really nowabout, how do you structure
things, not just for yourself,but also for your family, for
your kids, for your grandkidsand their kids and so forth, but
(12:27):
also for impact in this world.You know, at some point it's
really, you know, it's not aboutjust another deal. It's not just
about another investment, andwhether you have a few more
euros or US dollars on your bankaccount. It's really kind of
what kind of impact you want todo have in this world. And so
this is, you know, if you'veever been, have you, have you
(12:48):
been to Florence, Italy? Haveyou ever taken a trip? Not, I
have not Well, Scott, I'd loveto invite you, because that's
one of the things that I now do,is I, I invite business,
business families to come andjoin me on one of these trips.
Basically the Medici familyconstructed the city of
Florence. So, you know, everyPalazzo, every church, the
(13:09):
Cathedral, the museums thatpeople go to in Florence, they
all stem out of a buildingperiod where the Medici family
was in power and in influence.And so what is fascinating is
that they literally went beyondjust money, just creating a
successful business. They reallyinvested into culture and into
art and into the sciences andreligion, you know, and many of
(13:34):
the but today, that's why theycall the Renaissance family. And
so one of the great joys that Ihave now is to be thinking
through strategically. You know,how can I do that with my little
family, with with with my fewcompanies? You know? How can I
set them up? And that's where itgoes beyond just, let's say,
financial success. It alsoreally goes about impact in the
(13:56):
world.
Scott Ritzheimer (13:57):
It's so true. It's so true. Chris, there's
this question that I ask all myguests. I'm very interested to
see what you'd have to say. Butin the light of this
conversation and where you arein your journey, what would you
say is the biggest secret thatyou wish wasn't a secret at all.
What's that one thing you wisheverybody watching or listening
today knew?
Cris Zimmermann (14:14):
So that, basically what I'm what I'm
trying to draw out here. Thereare about 1000 books written on
the Medici family, and they'reall written by historians and
art historians, which arewonderful people to kind of
record the story of this family.But what I'm trying to draw out
(14:35):
is some of the principles thatactually help us, you know,
shape our lives and our familiesand our companies. And so I
almost feel like it's a it's amissing secret, that there are
principles that can help andguide us towards success,
(14:56):
significance and legacy. Andit's almost. We do not have to
walk in the dark, but there arethings we can learn and study.
And you know, it needs somebrain capacity, it needs some
good thinking, it needs someresearch, but there are things
we can work out that can help usin the present to be successful,
(15:19):
and that's what, what I think,you know, oftentimes, gets, gets
missed, that it's not just, youknow, the nice country that
you're born into, or the kind ofnice degree that you've got from
university, or some luck infinding some investors to invest
in your company, but there aresteps to take in order to set
yourself, your family and yourbusiness up for success and
(15:40):
legacy.
Scott Ritzheimer (15:41):
Yeah, so good Chris. There's this old Greek
proverb, I'm sure you're awareof it. It says society grows
great when old men plant treesunder whose shade they'll never
sit. And stage seven is rarefiedair. It's not often that we get
to see folks who have beenthere, let alone really looked
at how stage seven works and andmade that pathway easier for
(16:02):
those who follow in ourfootsteps. So thank you so much
for being on the show. Before Ilet you go, I have to know, how
can folks reach out to you andfind out more? Where can they
get a copy of the book?
Cris Zimmermann (16:11):
Yeah, so I've now a Family Foundation. We've
set up what we call the Medicicommunity, where we're involving
business families around theworld who really want to think
beyond, you know, just success.You know, how do you how do you
create a legacy? So, underMedici legacy.com Medici
legacy.com you can get adownload of my book. I just
(16:34):
wrote, actually, a second bookon the life of Lorenzo de
Medici, which is the which isthe grandson of Cosimo. And that
book is coming out very soon.It's called from success to
significance, and there are somelessons from the art and the
leadership of Lorenzo, managingsome leadership principles.
Yeah, I'd be very happy if you,or any of your listeners are
(16:55):
interested to really kind ofwork on the on the theme of
legacy. We've really created arealm of learning together. So
that's well, be happy to be intouch.
Scott Ritzheimer (17:06):
That's fantastic. Chris. Thank you so
much privilege and honor havingyou here with us today, and for
those of you watching andlistening, you know your time
and attention mean the world tous, I hope you got as much out
of this conversation as I know Idid, and I cannot wait to see
you next time. Take care.
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