Andrew McConnell is the Founder and CEO of Rented.com, and the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of Get Out of My Head: Creating Modern Clarity with Stoic Wisdom. Prior to launching Rented, he founded and ran VacationFutures, Inc. as well as Rented Capital, LLC. Before setting out on his own, Andrew worked with some of the world’s largest public and private entities as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company, and as a Director, Solutions Design at Axiom Global, Inc. His prior experience also includes putting his law degrees to more immediate use at Eversheds Sutherland (US) LLP and Ashe, Rafuse & Hill, as well as time at Merrill Lynch. A former member of the US National Team in Open Water Swimming, Andrew received his A.B. in History from Harvard University, his J.D. from Harvard Law School, and his LL.M. from the University of Cambridge, Trinity Hall.
How did you become interested in this area?
I studied philosophy some in college, but admittedly it did not really stick. The books remained on my shelf, read but not understood. As I began my career, I felt a depth missing from my life. I was an avid reader of contemporary non-fiction, and from Tim Ferriss, Ryan Holiday, and others, I came across more and more references to Meditations, the letters of Seneca, and the teachings of Epictetus. At a certain point it became a critical mass pointing me in the direction of the source materials, and my journey to becoming a student of philosophy began.
In our modern and materialistic society there remains a single asset we can own:
Andrew McConnell
our mind.
What’s the most important concept or idea that you teach people?
In our modern and materialistic society there remains a single asset we can own:our mind. And yet, despite this, we unthinkingly give our mind away constantly, living as tenants rather than owners. Though this is our default state, and in many ways “natural,” it need not remain our end state. Mind ownership is something we should all aspire to and can all achieve.
What do you think is the most important piece of practical advice that we can derive from your work?
Do the thing or don’t, but don’t spend your time not doing the thing thinking about it.
Do you have a favorite quote that you use?
Other people aren’t the problem.
paraphrase from Charlotte Joko Beck, “The Other Person is Never the Problem”
What advice would you give someone who wanted to learn more about what you do?
What I “do” is not singular. I write, and you can learn more about that from my book, as well as my blog. I also build companies. You can follow my journey through my 100 articles for Forbes. I am a husband, a father, an athlete, and a lifelong student, and I share my journey on all of this on my blog, through third party outlets, and through social (LinkedIn and Instagram).
Suppose you were able to give a talk or workshop at the original location of Plato’s Academy, in Athens.
I would feel intimidated and inspired to deliver the performance of my life. I could not imagine a greater honor than to be on the spot of so much history, and to be able to speak on topics that are innately human and as applicable today as in Plato’s time.