Tweet

"How to Spend It"

Written by: Tom Peters

Article Overview: I will stack my practical credentials as "avowed capitalist pig" up to anybody's; say, Steve Forbes. Among other things, how could one have lived in Palo Alto-Silicon Valley for three decades without "turning rabid capitalist," even if one had not been before? Likewise, today, capitalism unleashed in India and China is, I am quite certain, good for the world's prospects for some modicum of peace—and is enhancing the welfare of additional millions by the month.

"How to Spend It"

I will stack my practical credentials as "avowed capitalist pig" up to anybody's; say, Steve Forbes. Among other things, how could one have lived in Palo Alto-Silicon Valley for three decades without "turning rabid capitalist," even if one had not been before? Likewise, today, capitalism unleashed in India and China is, I am quite certain, good for the world's prospects for some modicum of peace—and is enhancing the welfare of additional millions by the month.

On the other hand, anyone who does not believe in "market imperfections" is a loony. For instance, I believe that globalization, whatever that is, is a good thing—in fact, a very good thing. On the other hand, its impact is as messy-uneven as one would imagine, given the enormity of what's afoot. And indeed we (the Chinese and Indians at home, big time, and the rest of us, as well) must squarely address said imperfections—or pay an enormous price.

Which brings me to my point—though I'm not entirely sure what I'm trying to say. If there is anything I believe in more fervently that capitalism, it is its social twin, free speech. Hence I am inalterably opposed to muzzling ... of any sort.

But I also think that even if one is a free speech and capitalism nutter, as I am, that one can vote for the occasional dose of good taste—"manners," my Mom might have called it. Which leads me by the backdoor to the purpose of this Post. Though I wish not to muzzle, I must admit to being a little bit revolted by Saturday's Financial Times magazine, which I read in the Frankfurt airport. The issue was devoted to a single topic. The cover read: "How to spend it." (A regular feature!) I am no enemy of luxury goods—as you know from recent previous Posts, Susan gave me a Kubota 4-wheeler for my birthday. But when "one" (me) reads of the world's strife in the news section, much, if not most, of it at least an indirect product of real or perceived inequities and disaffections of some sort, "one" (me) sometimes—e.g., yesterday—wishes we, the hyper-privileged, weren't so apt to shove, de facto, our joys and toys down others' throats. It's also why I'm no fan of the new Portfolio magazine, despite excellent reporting.

I don't know how I want this Post to end. Not with a recommendation, to be sure. Just as it is, as a personal "footnote" of sorts, declaring that this certified capitalist pig feels "troubled" at times by our tendency to "flaunt it" in a way that seems distasteful ... to me. (I acknowledge, too, that it's "just" human nature—I recently read somewhere, maybe Forbes or Fortune, about the billion-dollar (!) house that India's richest dude is building outside Mumbai. Ah, well ...)

Related Articles
  Time Management Strategy - Stop, Take A Step Back & Reevaluate
  How Much Time Should You Spend Marketing Your Small Business?
  Check Your Bank Account. There Is A Deposit Of 84,600
  How To Set Up Your Budget for Marketing
  The One-third Rule: And You?

Article Tags: 4 wheeler, backdoor, capitalist pig, enormity, enormous price, financial times, financial times magazine, frankfurt airport, free speech, good taste, inequities, market imperfections, modicum, muzzle, nutter, occasional dose, silicon valley, steve forbes, strife, three decades



Related Forum Posts
Re: Startup blogs - It is true that we are all told to write a blog, and I'm with Tim Ferris on this. Spend time on your product development, sales, service etc before you think about a blog.
Re: Why You Need to Redesign Your Website Right Now - This comment might be a little off base but I hope not. My personal opinion of having a great website design is it doesn't matter one little bit if you don't have traffic. You can have the best looking WEB 2.0 site on the Internet but if no one see's it it won't do a bit of good. Spend the majority of time building traffic and the least amount of time changing your site especially when you're new or have a new site.
Franchise Choice - I would: .Spend time evaluating what my passions in life were and how i could take more time to be doing those things - work or social or family .spend time evaluating what would help me get to where i wanted to be - not concentrating on moving away from something i.e a job . Look at what skills I have and where i needed training i.e sales.business management/retail management e.t.c - what ever is needed. I would then invest in myself and acquire those skills on the open market from reputable training providers . Set up my own business doing something i loved . Invest the money saved into me, sales and marketing and mentoring from succesful people who had done what i was trying to do.
Re: Billion Dollar Business - [quote="mphcoach":2ce34yto]How do you create a billion dollar business? Spend two billion on an airline - boom, boom! [/quote:2ce34yto] It's interesting how the government - of any country - can make or break businesses. I'm not an expert on the airline business, but wasn't it deregulation in the 70s that put the kibosh on everything? Although I think things weren't too bad, until after 9/11, and then they started hiring more security and not hiring more air traffic controllers --with just as much efficiency as you might expect from a government-run program, and things have been going down hill ever since.


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Quick Tips on Buying a Business

In the Year 2020 . . . Process

THE “SECRET RECIPES” OF LEADERSHIP

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.