Renewing Wealth Creation and the American Dream
Because the process of making money is the best education for making more money, our society’s wealth can grow only if the people who create it control it. Divorce the financial profits from the learning process and the economy stagnates.
Although many of today’s entrepreneurs are too busy to notice, they are indeed performing a near miracle of personal wealth creation. Most started their companies only a few years ago on relatively meager capital. Now, zapping their companies with police radar as they zoom by at a growth rate of some 50% per year, we can guess that dozens of those entrepreneurs command a net worth of scores of millions. Soon they will be knocking on the doors of truly supreme wealth… like their predecessors Bill Gates of Microsoft, Larry Ellison of Oracle, Steve Jobs of Apple and Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook among others.
In sharp contrast, many American intellectuals today think there ought to be a law against such a reckless rags to riches. Tax it away, they say, and give it to people who need it more. Capitalism, it is widely believed, would work better without all these superrich capitalists.
America’s entrepreneurs, after all, live in a world with 7 billion relatively poor people. Vulnerable men and women, these business leaders command little political power or means of defense. Democratic masses or military juntas could take their wealth at will. Why on a planet raven with famine, poverty, and disease should this tiny minority be allowed to control riches thousands of times greater than their needs for subsistence and comfort? Why should a few thousand families command wealth far exceeding the endowments of most nations?
Does any of this make sense?
I personally believe business is the greatest creator of value in the world. It is fundamentally ethical, noble and elevates humanity.
Capitalism won the battle of the 20th Century but unfortunately failed to capture the minds of the intellectuals or the hearts of the people.
All this negative sentiment around “corporations being evil” is ludicrous. After all, capitalism has largely ended world poverty, boosted literacy rates around the world, increased life spans, and created an era of prosperity unprecedented throughout human history.
What appalls me most today though is how few capitalists write about capitalism and wealth creation explaining to people what it is all about and the benefits associated with it at least if not to inspire the next generation of leaders. A generation I believe whose first duty must be to reverse the public perception of business to take this great country of ours to the next level of greatness n the world.
I think it is high time for the liberal haters of capitalism out there to understand that:
1. All businesses need a higher purpose. Money is not what drives most entrepreneurs. What drives most entrepreneurs is some kind of dream. Business will never be trusted if all it talks about is maximizing profit.
2. Business must create value for everyone that trades with it. We’re so hooked up today to the win-lose dynamic. The most amazing thing about capitalism is that it’s not a zero-sum game. It’s a win-win game.
3. To win the hearts and minds of the less fortunate people the world over, I believe we need a new type of leadership today; the servant leaders type who are dedicated to serving the stakeholders.
4. Most importantly, we need to create company cultures that are humanistic and empowering. Conscious businesses have indeed trusting cultures. They tend to be more authentic and caring.
I wrote my book Economic Warfare: Secrets of Wealth Creation in the Age of Welfare Politics Amazon for the millennial generation as I am a boomer and have unfortunately largely given up on my own generation; ideologically locked in the cold war way of thinking.
I sincerely hope this new generation will take a close look at it as their consciousness is much higher. The transformation the world needs comes from business–from entrepreneurs and from fresh minds willing to take risks.
Renew wealth creation and renew the American Dream and it will change your life.
Share your thoughts.
