Scandals lead execs to 'Atlas Shrugged' 1957 Ayn Rand novel sanctions self-interest

USA Today ^ | 9.24.02 | Del Jones

[Enemy Of The State]

In these post-Enron days of corporate scandal, some of the millions of copies of Atlas Shrugged that have been sold over 45 years are being dusted off by executives under siege by prosecutors, regulators, Congress, employees, investors, a Republican president, even terrorists.

[Enemy Of The State]

There have been many times when I sit here reading the news stories about today's corporate scandals that I have looked up at this very book sitting on the shelf next to my computer screen.

 

As I mentioned on a thread last night about 'Big Government', there is another thought from Ayn which I am reminded of cwhen thinking about not only corporate America but also our current government.

 

 

• "Money is the barometer of a society’s virtue.  When you see that trading is done, not by consent, but by compulsion - when you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing - when you see that money is flowing to those that deal, not in goods, but in favors - when you see that men get richer by graft and pull tan by work, and yoru laws don’t protect you against them, but protect them against you - when you see corruption being rewarded and honestly becoming self-sacrifice - you may know that your society is doomed."

 

[AzJP]

Bill Gates strong-arm "marketing" would not have attracted Ayn Rand, IMHO.

kj

[RightWhale]

Ayn Rand's "shruggers" weren't primarily business leaders. They were the real creators, the real doers inside businesses. The CEO isn't usually that. A lot of Ayn Rand readers seem to miss that. There aren't really that many doers. Does the CEO of Enron know both where and how to drill for natural gas? Does the CEO of GE know a dot product from a cross product? Does the CEO of GM know how to start up the CAD program on his desktop? Doers know these things, these are the John Galts who work for the CEOs.

[anniegetyourgun]

For example, since the Enron scandal, CEOs are refusing to sit on boards of other companies, thereby withholding their business savvy from the market.

I'm not sure how much savvy it takes to artificially inflate and then take the money and run. Furthermore, I'm not sure that this so-called brain drain is truly a loss to America.

[anniegetyourgun]

You said it better than I did....thanks.

[NatureGirl]

At the same time, ''Ayn Rand did not anticipate CEOs who would loot their firms for hundreds of millions of dollars before bankrupting them,'' Sonnenfeld says

Oh, yes, she did! Two words - "Gerald Starnes". Okay, so he was a co-owner, not a CEO, but he was still a looter.

[AzJP]

I naively thought Herb Kelleher of Southwest might be nearly almost kinda' sorta' maybe a potential Rand type, until I learned that he was instrumental in borrowing without permission 737 components from a corporate 737 parked nearby when Southwest couldn't afford to buy spares (an aileron I believe.).

Any nominees in your opinion?

kj

[RightWhale]

Thanks for not shooting a hole through my post edgewise, which is what usually happens when I post on an Ayn thread.

[Enemy Of The State]

I agree with you completely but I think the connection that writer here is trying to make with the book is the greed that drives them to do what they do. Thats just my opinion.

[AdamSelene235]

If you like Rand, you might also enjoy Heinlein.

[Redcloak]

This is gonna be a fun thread...

[Enemy Of The State]

On a side note, I just received an email from a friend of mine who works at the St. Regis in DC:

Well, my hotel lobby is full of secret service guys right now, we are expecting the Vice President to give a speech to Business Roundtable meeting. Subject: General Policy. People attending the meeting are all CEOs from different businesses... let's hope that this meeting carries out some sanity...

My first thought was that maybe they are gathering in masses to get their stories straight..lol :-)

[Flashman_at_the_charge]

The philosophy of Atlas Shrugged does not explain successful CEOs such as Milton Hershey, who during the Depression provided employees of his chocolate company with free medical care and paid off the mortgages of every church in town, Sonnenfeld says.

Having healthy employees is important and charity is a private matter.

[gov_bean_ counter]

Ayn Rand's "shruggers" weren't primarily business leaders. They were the real creators, the real doers inside businesses. The CEO isn't usually that. A lot of Ayn Rand readers seem to miss that. There aren't really that many doers. Does the CEO of Enron know both where and how to drill for natural gas? Does the CEO of GE know a dot product from a cross product? Does the CEO of GM know how to start up the CAD program on his desktop? Doers know these things, these are the John Galts who work for the CEOs.

These people tend to be "craftsmen". Michael Macoby in "The Gamesman" said these folks don't usually obtain positions of power and when they do aren't typically successful. To the gamesman, however, life (and career) is a series of games with winners and losers. The gamesman plays the game to win at all costs. Makes no lasting relationships because they are "users" of people. When there are no more games to play, gamesmen usually retire to a life of solitude and drink themselves to death. They don't serve on boards, they don't seek to make a difference in the lives others.

Clinton was/is the consumate gamesman. He will be around as long as he feels like he is a player. If he is ignored he may really go away.

Gamesmen have been around since the beginnign of time, but have been called different things. May be just a reflection of the human nature.

[Dominic Harr]

What amazes me is how the story of Atlas has been turned on it's ear.

John Galt went on strike from a *collectively* run factory.

The head looters were Jim Taggart and that fellow from Amalgamated Steel.

The looters *were* the CEOs and top businessmen.

Ah, no wonder we've gone so far down that road.

[SoDak]

I just bought this book last week. I haven't read anything by her yet. I must say, it's an intimidating book to start.

[Jonathon Spectre]

Perfect capitalism is as attractive and impossible as perfect communism.

Umm, right. Communism is "attractive"... to ants.

[Lee_Atwater]

What about a firm full of "Galts" that have no organizational coordination, coordination provided by a leadership structure.

In my experience it is the best "Galts" who eventually end up in leadership positions in a firm.

[RightWhale]

Any nominees in your opinion?

Sure. It's not a problem to find them. Everybody knows some, and a lot of times they cannot be acknowledged publicly unless their boss is very secure. There is the guy down the hall who keeps the network running, one of a staff of 20. There is the lady at the post office who gets the mail into the boxes by 9 AM every day no matter what. There is the receptionist at the Blood Bank who knows every donor and their schedule and never misses calling a day ahead. Not every doer has invented an anti-matter discombobulator or a fantastic way to extract oil from oilshale, but all doers do what they do very well. If all the doers stopped doing, the country would stop. Just one person in 20. Even on the TransAlaska Pipeline construction, it was known by the engineers that out of 200 employed at the camp, 20 were carrying the camp. Just look for that one in ten, one in twenty. They are easy to spot if you look.