Our Story & Philosophy

Our Story & Philosophy

Our story begins where another story ends; that  of Romulus and Remus.  According to Roman mythology Romulus and Remus were  thrown into the Tiber River in a basket as infants.  This was done because the King has enforced a rule of infanticide for male babies,  to protect the babies they were  thrown into the river.  A she-wolf found  them on the bank of the river and she nursed them until they were  discovered by a shepherd who rescued them and raised them as his own.  The boys grew up strong and eventually returned to their homeland where they kill the King and restore order.  That is the story in a nutshell, there is argument about some of the details in various versions  of the story and slight differences, but overall, that is the main story.

remus_coinWhat happens next is the part that is of the most interest to us at Aventine.  Once order is restored, both brothers attempt to rebuild a great city.  Romulus wants to build on Palatine hill and Remus wanted to build on Aventine hill.  A fight ensued (there is much discrepancy in the account as to what happened in this fight) but in the end Romulus kills Remus and establishes Rome on Palatine hill.  For me, as a conflict resolution specialist, this is a perfect example of a mediation gone very wrong; had the two parties been able to negotiate better the result  could have been the first great twin cities of Rome and Remo, but that is not what happened.  So you will ask why I would name my company after the hill that never got to be great, never got to manifest into its full glory.  Well, because for me Aventine represents unfulfilled potential.  Aventine’s potential never gets to actualize.  It still remains in its potential form.   This is my enduring inspiration as an innovator in organizational and conflict management.   How to affect change in a way that will  bring about better outcomes.

Great thinkers throughout history have contemplated potentiality versus actuality.  Aristotle in Metaphysics Z is the first to conceptualize the ideas of the potential of a thing, and the manifestation and actualization of that thing.  Al-Farabi, the famous 9th century philosopher, further built on the concept of potentiality and actuality by saying that potentiality on its own is not enough to actualize, that it needs an agent to activate it.  So, to move from a state of potentiality to actuality requires agency, or the ability to act or enact the potential.

Going from greatest potentiality to actuality requires an agent of change.  Let us, at Aventine Group, be your agent for actualizing your greatest potential in business.  At Aventine, the one thing we strive for is to take your business potential and actualize it and make it a reality.  That is our sole mission.