Be Smart Enough to Be Naive Enough
There’s a saying I come back to over and over again:
Be smart enough, to be naive enough to not know what you can’t achieve.
I remember hearing it for the first time at an Under Armour all-hands in 2010 when Kevin Plank stood on stage and reminded us that the goal of reaching $1 billion in annual revenue — once seen as audacious — had now been conquered. The next goal, he declared, was even bolder: to dethrone Nike.
Back then, Under Armour was the hungry underdog in a market dominated by giants. To hear Plank speak with such conviction — treating the company’s hard-won success and even its continued naivety as a competitive advantage — was electrifying.
And you know what? That phrase has carried me through some of the biggest, wildest, most improbable adventures of my own life.
When I set out to create Orion’s Kin — a media project that eventually became a TV show, media company, and full storytelling platform — I didn’t have a background in media production. No formal training. No lined-up investors. No reason, on paper, why it should have worked.
But I had something more powerful:
A conviction that stories matter.
A belief that people are hungry for authentic, human narratives about resilience, adaptability, and growth.
And a refusal to let the voice in my head whisper, “This is too big for you.”
Looking back, I realize: if I had been too smart, I never would have started.
If I had overanalyzed the market, the barriers, the capital, the “impossibilities,” I would have sidelined myself before even trying.
But because I was just smart enough to know that my naivety was an advantage, I took the leap.
And that’s where the magic lives.
You need to understand the rules just enough to bend them — without letting them become walls. You need to acknowledge the risks without letting them freeze you. You need to see the landscape clearly, but leave just enough room to believe you can chart a new path through it.
That’s why this saying sticks with me.
It reminds me (and maybe reminds you) that the best work you’ll ever do often comes from the places where you’re naively brave. Where you don’t know — or don’t care — what you’re “not supposed” to achieve.
So here’s my challenge to you today:
What’s the thing you’ve been telling yourself you can’t do?
What dream have you shelved because you’re “too smart” to try?
Where could you reawaken just enough naivety to take the first step?
Remember:
The greats weren’t the ones who knew they could succeed.
They were the ones who didn’t know they were “allowed” to try —
and did it anyway.
And if you need living proof?
Look no further than a former soldier-turned-executive-turned-storyteller who built Orion’s Kin from nothing but belief.
If I can do it, so can you.