Profit As Altruism
George Gilder has written extensively about entrepreneurism. Recently I read a piece by George where he called ‘profit an index of altruism’.
Often profit unfortunately in our society is automatically associated with greed. There is no doubt that there has been (unfortunately) cases of excessive profits and greed that has been espoused by some sectors of the business community.
This should not mean that profit gets a bad name as a result. It would be crazy to replace a flawed system with a failed system. The profit motive may be a flawed system but everything else are failed systems.
Profit is what is necessary to feed the spirit of entrepreneurism the world over. It is only through small-medium businesses that are willing to a risk and to explore the mysteries of business that society as a whole is better off.
It is only through the profit motive that inspires entrepreneurs to have a go that employment increases, general welfare of our society increases and we as consumers are served with better products and services for our enjoyment.
Altruism is considered to be inspired by something other than profit. But as George Gilder states profit is an index of altruism. Through profit society is better off.
Profit is good – don’t demonize it. Profit motivates positive society change benefiting all. We must be careful of regulation that would in any way stifle the entrepreneurial spirit that will lead to a better world for all.
What is an entrepreneur?
What is an entrepreneur?
Recently I posted a tweet (Twitter) discussing the fact that entrepreneurs have had to take a pay cut in this current economic situation. In response to this tweet I had a couple of comments that have made me question the definition of ‘entrepreneur’.
An entrepreneur is a person who has possession of an enterprise and assumes significant accountability for the inherent risks in the outcome. It is an ambitious leader who can combine labour and capital to create and market new goods. That is the definition as per wikipedia.
I have always thought that a small/medium business owner is an entrepeneur. But it would seem that some seem to believe that only people like Richard Branson are entrepeneurs i.e. owners of large complex businesses. Obviously Richard Branson is an entrepreneur but so is the small business owner operating out of his/her garage.
Based on the comments I received from the tweet, people don’t necessarily go along with my viewpoint. I feel that there are entrepreneurs around us every day. It is entrepreneurship that will lead us out of this recession. It is on the back of small and medium business that the economy will will recover. People taking accountability for risk, who are willing to bear the risk of a business venture and who because of their passion for a particular product or service will grow their businesses and employe people. This drives the economy. The government at all levels need to encourage entrepreneurship in our community. We need to encourage those who are willing to take on that risk for the outcome of delivering value and innovation to a customer. May there be more than an entrepreneurship.
This brings me back to my original tweet – there is evidence that entrepreneurs i.e. small business owners are cutting their pay to ensure their business survives rather than quit their business. These are the people we need to support. Let’s encourage risk-taking and innovation in small business. What do you think?
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