Building Vs. Spending Intellectual Capital
December 29, 2025·0 comments·zg
Ben Hunt paraphrased a Henry Kissinger idea while we were recording our top 10 Intentional Investor clips from 2025, and I can’t get it out of my head.
So there's this old line that I like to repeat. It was actually by Henry Kissinger because Kissinger, of course, was an academic for a long time before he went into government. And the line, which I think is really smart, is that he said, “So long as you're in academia, you're building your intellectual capital. Every day you're there, you're building your intellectual capital, and every day you're out of academia, every day you're in government, you're spending it.”
Ben Hunt, The Best of 2025
I really appreciate this idea of storing up intellectual capital before you go and spend it. I like it as a metaphor for school and learning. And I love it as a metaphor for work and life.
The actual Kissinger quote is a bit different - scholars trace these to White House Years and other related commentary:
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