Returning from the collections in Paris and Milan, a fashion-editor friend told me, “It's all about”—always the three most powerful words in retail—“Renaissance men.” The one-dimensional C.E.O. is over, he said. “Now it's all about men of multitalents.”

Any fellow who defines himself as a Renaissance man is telling you, in shorthand, "I am full of a quiet yet all-encompassing knowledge and no matter what you know, I will always know better than you and will chuckle with a quiet condescension whenever you challenge me and I might even smoke a pipe.[…]”

A Renaissance man is someone that can see trends and patterns and integrate what he knows. To me the modern Renaissance man is curious, interested in different things. You have to be willing to ‘waste time’ on things that are not directly relevant to your work because you are curious.

Renaissance man

Meaning

Noun

Synonyms