Thought Leaders | The Pope and the CEO

How to Start an Entrepreneurial Revolution

Very good article by Daniel Isenberg in the recent edition of the Harvard Business Review. “Although the story never ends, the action principles I have listed will help governments move the needle of entrepreneurship in the right direction. Engaging the private sector, modifying cultural norms, removing regulatory barriers, encouraging and celebrating successes, passing conducive legislation, being judicious in emphasizing clusters and incubators, subjecting financing programs to market rigors, and, above all, approaching the entrepreneurship ecosystem as a whole will allow governments to create economic growth by stimulating self-sustaining venture creation. Ireland’s president, Mary McAleese, recognized the extraordinary effect that could have on a society. In 2003 she said: “Today an educated, self-confident, and achieving generation can see the power of its own genius at work in its own land as a culture of entrepreneurship transforms Ireland’s fortunes, creating a new future for our children and an economic success story of remarkable proportions.” … that about sums it up!
The Way of Beauty

St Augustine said: ‘Love God and do what you want.’ And even if it means going to the desert and sitting on a pillar it is helping mankind… In a recent blog, David Clayton, an artist and teacher who holds a permanent post as Artist-in-Residence and Lecturer in Liberal Arts at Thomas More College of Liberal Arts discussed vocation and the common good (The quote of Augustine above is used in that connection). He does so on the basis of a course on this topic taught by Fr Michael Sweeney, who is president of the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology a member school of the Graduate Theological Union at Berkeley. His bog called The Way of Beauty is a wonderful endeavor to explore the idea that Truth is beautiful and thus originates from God. He calls this the the ‘via pulchritudinis’ – a principle for living a life of joy, harmony and creativity. I recommend you subscribe to his blog not only because the art he features is absolutely superb, but most of all because David’s way of discussing this topic is highly engaging and inspiring.
He has the most who is most content with the least

Here are some notes I took during a talk some years ago – I hope they inspire you as much as they have inspired me. “There is no greater sin than enslavement to desire, no greater curse than discontent, no greater misfortune than selfish craving. Therefore, in being content, one will always have enough.” -Lao Tsu There are four marks of public success: Money, Power, Fame, and Status. They should be treated as resources, rather than goals in themselves. If they become the goal – you will never know how much is enough. The problem with desire is that it feeds on itself. Desires make good servants – but bad masters. How do you guard against the impulse to want more? Ask yourself: Do you have enough money? To maintain a certain lifestyle? To provide security – freedom from worry about the future? Consider that those objectives have price tags, although the prices are different for different people. Seneca, a wealthy roman orator, encouraged everyone to spend one day a month living on bread and water alone and sleeping on the floor. Why? Because doing those things, you realize how little you need to survive. It helps us distinguish our… Read more
The (i)logic of Aid ?

Leon Louw, Executive Director of the Free Market Foundation in South Africa recently wrote that “Aid” is in conceptually ludicrous. According to Louw, Aid is by its nature an abuse, rather than “abused” as often stated. Firstly, countries in supposed need of aid are poor because their governments make them poor by adopting pro-poverty anti-prosperity anti-market policies – “aid” cannot possibly counteract their inevitable effect. Secondly, Louw states that “aid” is “government-to-government” – people in rich countries reward oppressors at home and beggars abroad in proportion to how good they are at maximizing poverty. And finally, in the unlikely event that someone thinks of a way to defy reality and get “aid” to victims of oppressive governments, the desire to plunder producers of wealth and enrich those who consume it is perverse. Give these realities, Louw argues that countries getting more “aid” have lower growth on average than comparable countries getting less, is entirely predictable, if not inevitable. Furthermore he argues that, by adopting a few pro-market reforms, India and China have each created many times more wealth than all the so-called “aid” looted in rich countries for oppressors in poor ones. What is your view? Is there a place… Read more
Does Moral Action Depend On Reasoning?

The Templeton Foundation has a series it calls “Big Questions” in which key thinkers and experts answer a specific question in an essay. The latest question was “Does moral action depend on reasoning?” and was answered by thirteen distinguished neuroscientists, psychologists, philosophers, and theologians. The answers given vary widely and are all very interesting and though provoking. I particularly like the answers by Robert George and Christine Korsgaard. Past questions in the series were Does evolution explain human nature? Does the free market corrode moral character? Does science make belief in God obsolete? Will money solve Africa’s development problems? Does the universe have a purpose? While they’re all interesting, of particular interest to me are the free market and the Africa questions and I recommend reading the answers by Michael Novak, Ted Green and the answer of my business partner Michael Fairbanks.
Four Principles for Effective Negotiation

Every business person and entrepreneur negotiates as part of his or her job. It’s a daily task. But most of us have never been trained in negotiation. That can easily be changed. Start by reading “Getting To Yes,” by Fisher and Ury. When it comes to negotiation theory, I don’t think there’s a better book on the market. You can find the book on Amazon. If you want to get your whole company familiar with the four principles you may want to hire a firm to do some training on the topic (I’ve used Mediation Works Inc. with great success,) or you can start by reading a summary of it (A good one done Tanya Glaser at the Conflict Research Consortium) Their four principles are: 1) Separate the people from the problem; 2) Focus on interests rather than positions; 3) Generate a variety of options before settling on an agreement; and 4) Insist that the agreement be based on objective criteria. [p. 11] These principles should be observed at each stage of the negotiation process. The process begins with the analysis of the situation or problem, of the other parties’ interests and perceptions, and of the existing options. The next… Read more