Plato's Third Man

The Third Man idea was first documented by Plato around 400BC to advance Socrates' 'Theory of Forms'. It's a framework that's still relevant to developing a business today.

Socrates' 'Theory of Forms' asserts that perfected Forms exist in another world outside of the material world of change known to us through the senses. The material world is perceived to be a distraction, with Forms positioned as the highest and most fundamental kind of reality, described as the only true objects of study capable of providing genuine knowledge.

To illustrate this idea Aristotle used the example of man, in that a man represents both a man and the Form of man. Plato observed that a third state of existence was required in order to simultaneously see the first two states, thus the Third Man perspective was born.

The short term evolution of the Third Man perspective was the development of scientific methods to study the physical state of material objects - in other words to prove what could be proven - empirical methods that continue to guide much of our existence today.

In the modern world, we use the best tools technology offers to measure outcomes and project trends for each unique business, industry and the global economic environment. The Third Man perspective requires us to step-back too, ensuring the whole is always greater than the sum of the parts.