If you want to succeed now, do what everyone else is doing, if you want to succeed in the future have the courage to be different & misunderstood. Disruptors, pioneers etc have the courage be different.
This focus on Mansa Musa being the richest man who ever lived is centered around the wealth of Mansa Musa as an individual. It would be more constructive for us to understand Mali as a state was a product of its economy and organization, not the product of any individual king.