Diego De Nicola

I’m a philosopher, entrepreneur, keynote-speaker and school-founder.

Diego De Nicola is a philosopher, entrepreneur, public-speaker and high-performance coach. He speaks seven languages and studied at Stanford and Arizona State University, where he graduated with Honors and Magna Cum Laude in Economics and Philosophy.

Sports are a big part of his life: He is a successful endurance athlete, with over 15 Ironman finishes, over 30 Marathons, and a qualification to the Ironman World Champs in Hawaii. Before becoming a Triathlete he played Football (Soccer) at a high level, including in College. Additionally, he’s a single-hcp Golfer, active Squash-Player in winter, and basically happy to join any sport activity from cycling across the country to skiing or trying something new.

Given with Ethics background and strong drive to create something meaningful, he decided early on that he wants to live a meaningful live, one that adds value to his surroundings, the community and the world. He therefore decided to become an entrepreneur directly after his studies, and founded his first company at the age of 23. To this day, he has founded and successfully built 4 companies in completely different industries.

In addition, in 2021 he started implementing his greatest vision: "revolutionizing the school system". After eight years of extensive research, he founded his first school with a completely new and extremely innovative approach: School of Tomorrow (SOT). SOT grew rapidly over the years, gaining national and international recognition for its innovative and revolutionary methodology and structure. Currently, SOT already has 3 campuses in and around Zurich, Switzerland.

Diego’s vast variety of interests and his experience in many different fields have given him the skills to not merely understand, but much more to synthesize, simplify and convey complex concepts and ideas in an easy, readily understandable and immediately applicable way. Diego uses these tools on a daily basis in his work with professionals, Olympic athletes, elite teams, and high performers from a wide variety of fields.

Additionally, Diego is a family man and a proud father of three. His mission is to empower people - independently of their situation and background – and lead them to reach their success and live their fulfillment. All while keeping a healthy life balance and creating real value.

His motto is the latin phrase: "ad finem et ultra" (to the finish and beyond)

Diego's personal thoughts

What does it really mean to “know yourself”?

The famous oracle of Delphi – dating back to the time were Socrates & co. were roaming the markets of Athens – boasted a famous inscription at its entrance: “know thyself”! Hmm… that simple? Today, more than 2500 years later, this inscription still haunts the minds of thinkers, philosophers, psychologists, scientists, writers and ordinary people – myself included!

As trivial as it may sound at first, the depth of these two words are seemingly endless. What does it really mean to “know yourself”? Can you possibly ever know who you really are? No matter what we do in life, where we come from and how active or lazy a life we live, we keep constantly changing. So, if we now try to capture our essence, our existence and our real self – yet this one keeps changing – it would be as vain an effort as trying to hold on the present moment, while the present moment keeps constantly escaping into the realm of the past: impossible!

But in all seriousness now… weren’t you expecting some words about me – the author – in this section, given the fairly self-explanatory title? Well… this is me. And these are the kind of things, which – believe it or not! – fascinate and intrigue me. Am I so self-assured that I expect to be the one to find “the answer” to these and similar questions, although many have been trying to do so for centuries to no avail?

No, quite the opposite. I have put my mind at ease and accepted that there is no single, universal or even correct answer.

Nevertheless, even though a conclusive answer may never be found, the process of questioning is well worth it!

For this reason, it is my humble attempt to question answers, to challenge accepted beliefs and experiment without prejudice.

Furthermore, I have a passion for sports! An active lifestyle is essential to my wellbeing. Besides soccer – which has been an integral part of my entire life – I have been an active endurance athlete for many years, specializing in marathon and ironman-triathlon.

In short, I am a philosophical entrepreneur, an endurance athlete and an applied theorist. I have an insatiable hunger for knowledge, a passion for personal and interpersonal growth and the drive for permanent progress. It is my attitude and my purpose to live life with enthusiasm, excitement and thankfulness – and to pass all of this on, to as many people as possible. No, I’m not trying to change the world… I’m merely giving it my best shot in doing my part.

I hereby invite you to join me on this journey and to take part in the adventure. Should you have any ideas, questions, interests, suggestions, desired topics or just want to say hi, please contact me! I’m happy to hear from you! In the meantime, welcome to Athletic Socrates!