Cyrus the Great - Timeless Lessons on Power, Systems, and Legacy

In the opening episode of The Timeless Investor Show, we explore the life and leadership of Cyrus the Great — a man whose influence echoes across centuries.

Cyrus wasn’t remembered just for what he conquered. He was remembered for how he ruled — with trust, strategic systems, and a long-term vision that built the foundations of an empire that outlived him.

In this episode, we dive into:

• How Cyrus built trust instead of ruling by fear
• How he created enduring systems rather than personal empires
• What modern real estate investors, builders, and entrepreneurs can learn from his leadership

I’ll also share personal stories from my investing journey — including lessons about thinking strategically, understanding local cultures, and avoiding short-termism.

If you're serious about building real wealth, real businesses, and real legacies — this episode is for you.

Subscribe for more timeless lessons on real estate investing, capital stewardship, and wealth building across generations.

Act well. Think wisely. Build something timeless.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:01

Welcome to the Timeless Investor Show, where we explore the principles of building, preserving, and passing down real wealth across generations. In a world obsessed with speed, noise, and short-term wins, this show is going to be about something different. Here, we will study timeless lessons from history, philosophy, investing, and real estate to understand what it really takes to build something that lasts. Whether you're a real estate investor, a builder, or simply someone who believes in long-term thinking, this show is for you. I'm your host, Ari Van Gemeren, and today we begin that journey with one of the most remarkable builders of all time. A man so respected that when Alexander the Great conquered his empire two centuries later, he made a personal pilgrimage just to visit his tomb. A man praised in the Bible itself as God's anointed one. Today, we're talking about Cyrus the Great. Cyrus wasn't just a conqueror. Yes, I know, he conquered the largest empire the world had ever seen at that time, stretching from the Mediterranean Sea to the mountains of Central Asia. But his greatness wasn't in how much he conquered. It was in how he ruled. Most conquerors impose their culture. They destroy what came before them, and they rule by fear. But Cyrus did something almost unthinkable for his time. He respected the customs and religions of the peoples he ruled. He allowed them to keep their traditions. He aligned their interests with his own instead of crushing them. Real power didn't come from domination. It comes from alignment. What was one of the most incredible examples of this? When Cyrus conquered Babylon, one of the richest and most ancient cities in the world, he didn't burn it or loot it. In fact, when he entered Babylon, he was welcomed by the people. They saw him as a liberator, not an invader. Can you imagine? a foreign conqueror entering the crown jewel of the ancient world and being greeted with celebration instead of rebellion. And Cyrus didn't stop there. He immediately issued decrees freeing enslaved peoples, restoring temples, and allowing the exiled Jewish people to return to Jerusalem to rebuild their temple. This moment is so important that it's recorded directly in the Bible and the book of Isaiah, where Cyrus is referred to not just as a king, but as an instrument of divine providence. Think about that for a second. If you know anything about the Old Testament, you know that it's a long story of the battle between the Jewish people and all of the different pagan cultures and nations all over the Middle East. And Cyrus was not Jewish. He belonged to whatever the faith was of Persia at the time. So for the Bible to refer to him as an instrument of divine providence, as God's anointed one, speaks volumes. I mean, how many kings in history have been praised like that by their former enemies? And honestly, it says something about the man and the systems he built. You can still visit Cyrus's tomb today at a place called Pasargadai in modern-day Iran. And there's a famous inscription attributed to him that says, Oh man, whoever you are and wherever you come from, for I know you will come. I am Cyrus who founded the empire of the Persians. Do not grudge me this bit of earth that covers my body. Simple, humble, and timeless. the founder of an entire empire, the largest empire ever seen at that point, asking only for a small place to rest. So what can we as investors, builders, and stewards of capital learn from Cyrus? I think a lot, honestly, because Cyrus understood the importance of systems over brute force, the power of trust over fear, and the value of aligning interests instead of trying to control everything. And most of all, He understood that true greatness isn't about conquering the most or subjugating the most people. It's about building something that lasts. So if you're buying a piece of real estate, starting a business, or investing your time and energy into something, you're doing a small version of what Cyrus did at scale. The questions you have to ask yourself are, are you trying to control everything by force? Or are you building systems that people want to be a part of? Are you chasing short-term wins? Or are you thinking about how to build something that still stands decades from now, even long after you're gone? Something maybe that benefits your family or your children or society at large. There's so many questions to ask there. And the world remembers Cyrus not because he took from others, but because he built. And that is the ultimate test of investing leadership and legacy. Some of the things Cyrus did beyond pragmatic political policies, he invested heavily in infrastructure. He built trading posts. He built roads. He connected the ancient world in a way that many of his predecessors had not tried to do. He thought strategically. He never engaged in needless battles. He engaged in battles when he knew he would win. He was very strategic thinking. The man was playing, I was just saying today, he was playing 5D chess or 3D chess, whatever we say today. He was a strategic thinker and a builder, an innovator, And he leveraged local networks to build something truly great. Think about that in terms of any kind of business you're trying to build today. I mean, there's so many ways to think about this when it comes to real estate. So building infrastructure. When you acquire a property, how are you thinking about the property? Are you investing for the long term? Or are you churning and burning as fast as you can to try to make some profit out of it? Timeless principles would say it's much better to build something for the long term. We face this decision all the time in my business. We see it all the time. Short-termist thinking, paying less for something. A really simple example is going with the cheapest vendor. Sometimes that's good. Sometimes it actually ends up costing you a lot more. I made a decision one time on my very first investment property to go with the very cheapest vendor I could find. I thought, The contractor that wanted me to pay$50,000 to replace the deck was the same as the contractor that wanted me to pay$10,000 to fix the deck. And the contractor who charged me$10,000 ended up costing me more than$50,000, and he didn't do it right. There were so many issues that came out of that. This is a simple example, right? But we face this all the time in business and investing, specifically real asset investing, making decisions that will stand the test of time There are timeless good decisions. Cyrus is a great example of thinking strategically and long-term about what you're doing. Some of that pragmatic political stuff he did, I think, has huge bearing on this as well. When you invest in a new market, how well do you understand the local culture? How well do you understand the way the local system operates? There's so many ways that you can... fabulous ideas you can glean from the legacy of great men like Cyrus the Great. When we invest in a new city, we try to take time to understand what it's like on the ground there. Some cities are all different. We invest in Seattle and we invest in Tacoma. Tacoma has a very different culture than Seattle. Tacoma has very different laws than Seattle. Tacoma has... actually surprisingly more restrictive resident protection laws than Seattle does. You have to understand that going into the market. You have to understand the culture of the city that you're investing in. Another example, we invest in California. Californians are more litigious. I've noticed, right? It's like you should understand that. You should understand the local culture of the place you're investing. Culture is really important. We're not a monolith. Cities are different all over the place. Understanding what it's like in the city you're investing in is really important, right? And Cyrus understood that. He wasn't investing. He was conquering. But when he conquered a city, he understood what he was taking on, right? He thought strategically about how to incorporate something into his growing empire. So thinking long term, thinking strategically, thinking with timeless principles about your investing business or your business or the company you're building is really important. Are you a collaborator? Cyrus could not have built his empire without working with others. He had to bring people into his network. People had to buy into his vision. Cyrus could not have conquered the empire he conquered without the armies at his back, right? And the armies at their back only function if they believe in the vision of the leader. There's many examples in history of armies that didn't believe in the vision of their leader and they didn't execute. There's no way to control an empire the size of the Achaemenid Empire without many, many local lieutenants and elites helping you run it. How did those people, how did they get bought into his vision as well? So for you, as you're thinking, and for myself as well, because I learned from these stories just like you, as you think about building this thing, as you think about building your own empire, whatever it is, right? This show is for entrepreneurs, builders, investors, capital allocators. As you think, think long-term, think timeless, think what would Cyrus have done in this situation? What would any of the great, men and women that we're going to talk about on this show and the people that we're going to interview, how would they think in a timeless fashion versus a short-term hype cycle, mania, frenzy fashion, right? That's how a lot of people think right now. I mean, I see it all the time on social media. We're obviously very active on social media. It's astonishing the number of like get-rich-quick schemes that I see. And they're not all schemes, right? But I mean, there's a lot of it that's distracting from like I have to come back to principles when I think about these things. Like I saw something the other day about buying a car wash, right? And I got really interested in buying a car wash. It seemed like a great business strategy. Oh, car washes print money. It's such a great idea. Started really researching and looking into buying car washes. And then after like two hours, I just stopped myself and say, what are you doing? Like, you're not going to go buy car washes, right? You own multifamily apartment complexes. Maybe we'll do mixed use someday, but you're not going to be a car wash guy. So stop playing around with car wash guys. That was a, timeless moment of like, let me retrench into what I do, where I'm niching down, where I'm building expertise, right? So, you know, I had a mentor say to me, you know, we wrote this book, Timeless Wealth recently, which hit Amazon bestseller list. It was really fun to write. It was an example of analyzing the stories of some of these great individuals throughout history. And I had a mentor who has 50 plus years in the multifamily business who read it. And he called me and he said, Ari, I really liked your book. And of course, my ego liked that. And I said, oh, thanks so much. That's great. I'm glad you liked my book. And he said, well, it's not just that I liked your book. There's something more I like about it. I like biographies. I think every biography I ever read, I learned something from the legend or the tale of this person. that I can apply to my own life. And what I liked about your book is that it was basically a bunch of biographies of different real estate builders. And I totally agree with that perspective. Some of the best, most impactful books I've ever read were biographies of people that have done really amazing things. Because the reality is, nothing's new under the sun. Nothing. Everything's been done before in some vein, right? I mean, even like the new fangled technology we have today, like there's an anecdote in history that's sort of relates to that situation and that's definitely true with biographies definitely true cyrus the great julius caesar marcus aurelius john rockefeller there's so many andrew carnegie andrew carnegie's biography is one of my favorites of all time i mean rags to riches built the became the wealthiest man in history so many incredible stories from andrew carnegie's story so many incredible stories from cyrus the great and i think he's a great one to start because it's like we're going back to the beginning of recorded history here the beginning i mean not quite the beginning but almost the beginning to talk about principles that endure through time timeless principles so as you continue on your journey think like cyrus Act wisely, steward your opportunities carefully, and build something that endures beyond yourself. Thanks for listening to the Timeless Investor Show. If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe, share it with someone serious about building real wealth, and join me next time as we continue exploring timeless lessons for modern builders. Until then, act well, think wisely, and build something timeless.