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# Vusi Sindane

The Philosopher Entrepreneur

## Sitemaps

- [XML Sitemap](https://vusisindane.com/sitemap.xml): Contains all public & indexable URLs for this website.

## Posts

- [Should we eat fellow animals?](https://vusisindane.com/should-we-eat-animals/) - A steak. A taste. A cage with thousands of animals, injected with growth hormones for our appetites, and the health problems that follow. Hence, a question. Have we crossed the line in how we treat animals and the environment? Should we stop eating fellow animals?
- [Our Limitations and The Transcendence of Being](https://vusisindane.com/limitations-and-the-transcendence-of-being/) - We rely on technology to see further, travel faster, and do what is otherwise impossible. These enhancements, however, deplete us. So we seek relief; we seek ways to rejuvenate ourselves. However, left unchecked, this too disconnects from reality. So, what are we to do? Should we live with these limitations of being or is there a way to transcend them?
- [Part 2: What is a company? Legal Fiction](https://vusisindane.com/part-2-what-is-a-company-legal-fiction/) - Most of us think of companies as private property. However, if we follow the history of companies, we find that they are something else, which changes the role of the entrepreneur. Let's explore the legal fiction of corporations.
- [A Deep Dive into Sun Tzu's The Art of War](https://vusisindane.com/understanding-sun-tzus-the-art-of-war/) - A book that survives 2,500 years must have something timeless to say. One such book is Sun Tzu’s The Art of War. Greater still is the historical context and philosophy that gave rise to this magnum opus. In this essay we explore the history, the philosophy, the structure and the hidden gems in Sun Tzu’s The Art of War.
- [Part 1: What is a company? Unpacking Property and Ownership.](https://vusisindane.com/part-1-what-is-a-company-unpacking-property-and-ownership/) - Founders, we all own companies. But do we know what we have gotten ourselves into? In this series, I explore the concept of a company and its implications for what can and cannot be done: the advantages and constraints. This is a deep dive, starting with understanding property and ownership.
- [The Fall of Salt and Knowledge Work](https://vusisindane.com/the-fall-of-salt-and-knowledge-work/) - Long before motorways, there were salt roads. Caravans of camels and mules kicking up dust on long desert paths, carrying slabs of salt to distant lands. Nights in the deserts. Fire side stories under the stars. Sons growing old on voyages and old men leaving, sometimes never to return. Salt was a meat preservative, necessary
- [The bad news about rock bottom](https://vusisindane.com/the-bad-news-about-rock-bottom/) - Whenever we think, “things cannot get worse than this” they often do. In this post I explore an unsettling observation about “hitting” rock bottom — a cautionary tale.
- [Money.  What is it?](https://vusisindane.com/what-is-money/) - I realised that money is simple in the sense that everyone uses it, but also complicated in the sense that few understand it. In this essay, I try to understand money, honestly, for my own sake.
- [Understanding Profit Maximisation](https://vusisindane.com/profit-maximisation/) - Every business wants to sell more goods, and it is assumed that this will increase profits. However, the principle of profit maximisation says there is a point where selling more goods destroys value. Where is this point? Let's find out.
- [The First Principle of Business](https://vusisindane.com/the-first-principle-of-business/) - A typical business has many moving parts, all demanding attention. Marketing, sales, operations, finance, and so on. Left unchecked, chaos follows. But which of these demands should we pay attention to? Or how should we prioritise them? In this article, I explore one principle that seems to clarify what's important and what's not.
- [Business is not about money](https://vusisindane.com/business-is-not-about-money/) - For many years I held that business is about money. After all, I have seen many people run into financial problems because of business. But lately, with 20 years of experience, my view is changing. I think business is not about money. This post explores this idea.
- [On the seriousness of business](https://vusisindane.com/on-the-seriousness-of-business/) - What happens when a business fails? It's not just a loss of income. For many, it equals a loss of identity, status and belonging. In this post, I explore the scope of business and what it means for the founder or entrepreneur to take it seriously.
- [Mpemba Effect](https://vusisindane.com/mpemba-effect/) - When the truth does not make sense, it can be easily discarded as false. However, a young Erasto Mpemba encourages us to persist in the face of strange truths.
- [The Cure for Brain Fog](https://vusisindane.com/the-cure-for-brain-fog/) - There are many remedies for brain fog. Exercising and eating well are but two. Beyond remedy, however, there is only one true cure.
- [Halved by Specialisation](https://vusisindane.com/halved-by-specialisation/) - Winston Churchill is known more as a wartime politician than as a painter and Nobel Laureate for literature. Isaac Newton, likewise, is known more for his scientific contributions than for publishing mystic and theological texts, which some would consider the exact opposite of science. Persons of this kind were once celebrated as polymaths. Today, we
- [Identifying Customer Value](https://vusisindane.com/identifying-customer-value/) - We are accustomed to believing that value is created for the customer by the supplier. But what if it were the other way around?
- [How to set and achieve your goals](https://vusisindane.com/how-to-set-and-achieve-goals/) - Struggling to achieve your goals? Do you set your goals, get fired up, and lose steam along the way? Here are the lessons I learned from cycling 3,257km from Musina to Cape Town for 10,000 school shoes.
- [Solopreneurship and the Future of Work](https://vusisindane.com/solopreneurship-and-the-future-of-work/) - The sand is shifting beneath our feet. The career, as we know it, is dying. People no longer aspire to dedicate their lives to large companies. Instead, they are using technology to build solo businesses that serve the people they care about. This is the future of work. Let's explore it.
- [The quiet forces](https://vusisindane.com/the-quiet-forces/) - The Taoists say the soft always overcomes the hard, or in a strong wind, it is the toughest branch that breaks first. Likewise, there are quiet forces in business.
- [Destroyed, but never defeated.](https://vusisindane.com/destroyed-but-never-defeated/) - What is it that keeps us going despite an onslaught of misfortune? Ernest Hemingway, in his masterpiece The Old Man and the Sea, has something to say.
- [Book Review: Jonathan Livingston Seagull](https://vusisindane.com/book-review-jonathan-livingston-seagull/) - Richard Bach transports us, in a riveting tale of Jonathan Livingston Seagull, from the hard discipline of practice to self-realisation, revealing at the same time, the evolution of spirituality.
- [Life changing choices](https://vusisindane.com/choices-that-change-our-lives/) - Some choices adjust a life. Others change it completely. In conversation with a man I look up to, we discussed four such choices, each of which change the course of one's life.
- [How preference forms](https://vusisindane.com/how-preference-forms/) - Most founders believe that products win because they are better. However, social psychology suggests otherwise. Our preferences develop for entirely different reasons.
- [The Curse of Actaeon](https://vusisindane.com/beware-the-curse-of-actaeon/) - Entrepreneurs have to balance passion and objectivity. This post borrows from the ancient story of Actaeon and Artemis to explore the ends of passion.
- [Judgement in Business](https://vusisindane.com/businesses-fail-in-two-ways/) - A sketch of the nature of judgement in the business context. How decisions compound over time, and what truly matters in discerning good from bad choices.
- [My favourite business tools: from strategy to execution](https://vusisindane.com/my-favourite-business-tools-from-strategy-to-execution/) - I once woke up to a flooded house. The kitchen cupboards had soaked up water overnight, and our rugs were ruined. Disaster. I immediately thought it was the geyser, but the ceiling was fine. I called a plumber, who arrived within an hour. He walked around the house, fiddled with his tools, told me something,
- [A zero-cost tool that can save your business fortunes immediately.](https://vusisindane.com/how-to-eliminate-small-mistakes-that-are-costing-you-a-fortune/) - At Johns Hopkins Hospital in the early 2000s, something deeply unsettling was happening. Patients were dying from preventable infections during surgery. These were not careless doctors. They were highly trained specialists at one of the best hospitals in the world. Everyone knew the rules. A young ICU doctor, Peter Pronovost—blonde hair with a smile fit
- [The parable of the world's best barber](https://vusisindane.com/the-parable-of-the-worlds-best-barber/) - Once upon a time, a barber named John realised that his boss was not the sharpest blade in the drawer. He sat around barking out orders and could not even cut hair as well as he did. Whenever clients came, they demanded John and would rather wait for hours until it was their turn.Then he
- [The two words that define a healthy business—large and small.](https://vusisindane.com/the-two-most-important-words-that-define-a-healthy-business-large-and-small/) - I was 19 years old, writing software on my computer, when I heard my dad's voice booming from the other side of the house. He was laughing with a new friend I had never seen before. Tall, slinky, light-skinned fellow with large eyes and a sharp nose.This became my first mentor, who would give me
- [Perspectives on Love](https://vusisindane.com/perspectives-on-love/) - In school, we are taught about different kinds of love. There is brotherly love, romantic love, filial, erotic, and so on. However, we seldom discuss the golden thread that weaves through all these categories. Worse, there's also lust, which masquerades as love. What is the defining characteristic of lust, and when does it transform into love - if ever? This and more in today's newsletter.
- [Armpits. Why do we have them?](https://vusisindane.com/armpits/) - I once stood in a long queue. The gentleman behind me started making small talk to pass the time. Among the questions he asked was why we have armpits. This question has never left my mind. As it turns out, there could be something profound in the answer.
- [Burning Man](https://vusisindane.com/burning-man/) - A man must be left alonesometimesto burn in the flames of his own doing.not to whither awaybut to realise his capacity to make light.For, "What is to give light,it is said,must endure burning."
- [Who are we in relation to Artificial Intelligence?](https://vusisindane.com/who-are-we-in-relation-to-artificial-intelligence/) - "We have a long history of thinking that we are special. We thought we were at the centre of the universe. We thought we were made in the image of God. We have all these pretensions.... emm.... We are not special, and there's nothing about us that a machine couldn't duplicate." — Geoffrey Hinton, aka The Grandfather of A.I. In this post, I explore the idea of who we are in relation to AI.
- [The Rustenberg Crypto Heist: On the Origins and Value of Capital](https://vusisindane.com/the-rustenberg-crypto-heist-on-the-origins-and-value-of-capital/) - It is said that capital refers to resources used in the means of production to create value. But where do these resources come from? Is there a primary resource from which all other resources depend? In addition, what drives the value of this resource? Let's explore capital, drawing on a recent R8bn crypto heist from a company based in Rustenberg.
- [The Tenets of African Entrepreneurship](https://vusisindane.com/the-tenets-of-african-entrepreneurship/) - All the important relationships we have are governed by vows and precepts — from marriage to the military. However, entrepreneurship seems to be a free for all. Despite their immense impact, entrepreneurs do not have (even implicitly) a code under which we may judge them or they may judge themselves. In this note, I sketch such a code, hoping to develop it into a comprehensive system at a later stage.
- [Going offline to spread ideas by word of mouth](https://vusisindane.com/going-offline-to-spread-ideas-by-word-of-mouth/) - I think digital advertising is dead. Advertising used to be scarce. Only people and organisations with deep pockets could buy our attention. Today, however, anybody can open Facebook Ads Manager and buy advertisements. The ease of buying ads means even people we cannot trust can, at least, try to grab our attention. We are more
- ["In the beginning, there were joiners"](https://vusisindane.com/in-the-beginning-there-were-joiners/) - What if your initial customers when starting a business were not your real customers? What if their role was to spread the fire rather than become part of your business for the long term? Let's explore this idea by Seth Godin.
- [Choose your customer.  Choose Your Future.](https://vusisindane.com/choose-your-customer-choose-your-future/) - I just finished listening to This is Marketing by Seth Godin for the second time, and I finally get it. When you choose your customer, you choose your future. Case Study In the world of trailwalking, there are people called angels. Somewhere deep in the mountains, where shops are too far, and water is scarce,
- [The Matthew Effect](https://vusisindane.com/the-matthew-effect-and-the-problem-of-creating-multiple-income-streams/) - One afternoon, Prof Seelig rounded up students and split them into teams, each given $5 and two hours to make as much money as possible. Some students thought about gambling. Others thought about buying stock and then selling it for a profit. A third group got it! The third group, realising that the $5 was actually a trap, ignored it altogether. They thought about themselves and their creativity as resources. One group inflated bicycle tyres for a fee. Another provided bookings and reservation services for a nearby restaurant. Yet another offered poetry and love-letter writing service. This is the Parable of the Talents. The Matthew Effect. If you think about what little you have, that little will be taken away. Cold, but true.
- [Life is Easy. We make it hard.](https://vusisindane.com/life-is-easy/) - I've finally settled on the view that life is easy, and that we bring hardship to ourselves. Often we do not intend to bring hardship, but we do anyway when we are incompetent, cling to biases, or when conditions around us change but we refuse to adapt. This is a polarising view with some saying
- [You lose what you don't use](https://vusisindane.com/you-lose-what-you-dont-use/) - I'm back! I must say, it's great writing again after such a long time. I've made some changes, though. This time, my posts will be short, aimed at capturing Aha! moments, epiphanies, penny drops. I will post daily at 6 am. Longer posts (essays) will remain on my website. I will publish them as and
- [Is 'written by hand' the same as 'handwritten'?](https://vusisindane.com/is-written-by-hand-the-same-as-handwritten/) - There's a company in the U.S that uses A.I. and robotics to write and deliver handwritten letters. If your mom is sick, your friend is getting married, or if you want to write to a long-lost friend, then you need not lose sleep over it. Upload samples of your handwriting to a website. Then describe
- [Are entrepreneurs athletes?](https://vusisindane.com/are-entrepreneurs-athletes/) - What if we looked at entrepreneurs as athletes? I think this would cause a profound shift in how they see themselves and how others regard them. To explore this topic, I will first provide an account of an athlete and then show how entrepreneurs fit the mould. Then I will draw the implications of this
- [The Price For Artificial Intelligence](https://vusisindane.com/the-price-for-artificial-intelligence/) - The promise of AI is hyperproductivity — more output from less input. Instead of spending hours reading a 20,000-word essay, we can ask it to summarise it in minutes, extracting the salient points. Instead of taking a week off to think about strategy, Chat GPT can conjure it up in seconds. Instead of carrying the
- [Critique of The World Economic Forum's Vision for Education](https://vusisindane.com/a-critique-of-the-world-economic-forums-vision-for-education/) - Fingers are wagging as companies blame schools for producing low quality candidates. This has resulted in rising youth unemployment. For fear of losing political power, policymakers are desperately looking for solutions. Among their hopes is the report from the World Economic Forum, that promises a new approach to education. But I think it's wrong.
- [Messages From Beyond](https://vusisindane.com/messages-from-beyond/) - Death has inspired the greatest poems and moved us to create art that opens a new world far beyond this one. Yet, we all have an appointment with death and it is in this reckoning that we reflect, not only on our mortality, but on those who came before us. It is in this space, that we receive messages from beyond.
- [The Music Industry Got it All Wrong](https://vusisindane.com/the-music-industry-got-it-all-wrong/) - During the early 1900s, there was a problem in the music industry. By and large, people were using gramophones to listen to their favourite songs. But the technology only allowed for approximately four minutes of playback, and the quality was awful: the high notes from flutes and violins, together with the low notes from the tuba or the base were either distorted or barely audible. Incidentally, this gave rise to the four-minute-long pop music that we are familiar with today, where the prominent feature is the human voice.
- [Hello world!](https://vusisindane.com/hello-world/) - Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start writing!

## Pages

- [Vusi Sindane | Philosopher Entrepreneur](https://vusisindane.com/) - Weekly essays on the philosophy of business, leadership and strategy. Delivered every Sunday at 7 am. Entrepreneur. Corporate Educator. Business Consultant.
- [resources](https://vusisindane.com/resources/) - Resources Tools to build a better business and become a more effective leader Do you have a winning business strategy? Find out in the next 5 minutes. Free self-assessment inspired by Sun Tzu's Art of War and Vusi's proprietary interpretation for business strategy, developed over a decade of study and application. Start Free 5min Self-Assessment
- [Strategy Self-assessment According to Sun Tzu](https://vusisindane.com/strategy-assessment/) - Assess your strategy now. This assessment applies Vusi Sindane's proprietary interpretation of Sun Tzu's The Art of War to analyse business strategy. Answer 25 questions to reveal which pillar of strategy is your critical weakness and how to address it. 1. I have a clear read on whether the broader market is moving with me
- [About](https://vusisindane.com/about/) - Intro & Career Highlights Founder Corporate Educator Strategy Consultant Project Manager Vusi is a seasoned software engineer and entrepreneur with over two decades of experience in technology, consulting, and a decade in executive leadership. Born in the small Mpumalanga village of Maganagobushwa, his entrepreneurial spirit surfaced early—selling milk at his home village, sweets in primary
- [Vusi Sindane's Thoughts](https://vusisindane.com/thoughts/) - Thoughts There are two collections of thoughts. Articles are short, 2-5 minute reads. Essays are long-form, often researched, philosophical pieces. Articles Essays Should we eat fellow animals? A steak. A taste. A cage with thousands of animals, injected with growth hormones for our appetites, and the health problems that follow. Hence, a question. Have we
- [Essays](https://vusisindane.com/essays/) - Essays Complete writing projects and deep reflections. Messages From Beyond 13 Jan 2022 Essays Our Limitations and The Transcendence of Being 23 Sep 2020 Essays Critique of The World Economic Forum’s Vision for Education 27 Aug 2020 Essays The Music Industry Got it All Wrong 17 Aug 2020 Essays A Deep Dive into Sun Tzu’s
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- [Privacy Policy](https://vusisindane.com/privacy-policy-2/) - Who we are Suggested text: Our website address is: https://vusisindane.com. Comments Suggested text: When visitors leave comments on the site we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection. An anonymized string created from your email address (also called a

## Products

- [The Achiever Workbook](https://vusisindane.com/product/theachieverworkbook/) - Unlock the thinking patterns and repeatable systems that separate top achievers from the rest. Learn from a transformative cycling journey across South Africa and apply the same blueprint to your life, business, or career.
- [Business Fundamentals – Build a Business That Can Outlast You](https://vusisindane.com/product/business-fundamentals-21-day-transformation-course-founders-small-businesses/) - Business Fundamentals is a practical program for founders who want clarity, structure, and long-term viability—not hacks, motivation, or noise.
- [The Business Proposal Blueprint eBook](https://vusisindane.com/product/the-business-proposal-blueprint-ebook/) - Master the art of persuasion on paper. This comprehensive PDF guide by Vusi Sindane teaches you the proven frameworks and insider techniques—from uncovering “the rat in the room” to crafting a SOLID proposal—that turn your ideas into signed contracts.

## Categories

- [Uncategorized](https://vusisindane.com/category/uncategorized/)
- [Essays](https://vusisindane.com/category/essay/) - Long-form exploration of ideas about certain topics. These are usually complete bodies of work and are supported by extensive research and introspection.
- [Newsletter](https://vusisindane.com/category/newsletter/)
- [poetry](https://vusisindane.com/category/poetry/)

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- [Artificial Intelligence](https://vusisindane.com/tag/artificial-intelligence/)
- [personal growth](https://vusisindane.com/tag/personal-growth/)
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