Business Insider: 'Atlas Shrugged' Is Full Of Terrible Business Advice (old article from October 2013)
Just stumbled across this article online, and I thought I'd share my perspective on it.
1. Favoring the gold standard
The article says the gold standard is a bad idea, and that the Federal Reserve is a good institution, but I'm not convinced, and a few words from Ben Bernanke are unlikely to persuade me. Maybe if Ayn Rand was the only one advocating the gold standard, and no one else was saying the same thing, I might be less skeptical, because I do believe Ayn Rand's opinions ought to be taken with a grain of salt. But given that the gold standard has also been advocated by people such as Milton Friedman, Robert Kiyosaki, and Donald Trump, I have a much harder time simply dismissing the idea outright. Unlike Ayn Rand, these people do not lack real world business experience, and so their opinions carry significantly more weight.
As for the Federal Reserve, there is an incredibly important book by G. Edward Griffin which I strongly believe every American should read. It's called "The Creature from Jekyll Island," and it gives an absolutely damning exposition of the real nature of the Federal Reserve as an institution.
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2. Believing people who succeed are inherently superior, and often victims
I actually agree with the article on this point. Having self-confidence is important, but the way Ayn Rand tries to present it is so extreme that it actually contradicts almost everything that genuinely successful businessmen have said on the subject. Dale Carnegie's "How to Win Friends and Influence People" and Napoleon Hill's "The Law of Success" both advocate values which are completely opposite of Ayn Rand's beliefs, and they aren't alone.
For example, Ayn Rand once said that to hire someone smarter than you was to degenerate your own sense of self and submit to mediocrity (or something along those lines – I can't remember the exact quote, but that's the gist of it). But Robert Kiyosaki says, "An intelligent person hires people who are more intelligent than he is." Given that Ayn Rand was never in a position where she actually had to hire anyone, while Robert Kiyosaki was and is, between the two of them, I think I'll take the advice of the one who has some tangible, real world experience.
https://www.facebook.com/RobertKiyosaki/...
Confidence is important, but so is humility. As Aristotle so famously wrote, "The ideal lies at the mean between excess and deficiency." This concept is known as the Golden Mean, and while it may not always apply to everything (after all, it's not possible to be too healthy), it does absolutely apply to the concept of self-confidence. Too little confidence, and you become weak. Too much, and you become reckless. Donald Trump may say there's nothing wrong with having an ego, but even he puts qualifies on that statement, probably due to his personal experience from the fact that he's gotten himself into trouble on occasion because of his own excessive ego, and once even nearly bankrupted his company because he thought he was invincible and therefore didn't need to pay attention. Life can be a harsh mistress, but that's just its way of curbing people's more extreme tendencies and bringing them back down to Earth. Having confidence in yourself and your abilities is good, but being a megalomaniac can be very, very bad.
http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?AynRandDesignPhil...
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3. Suggesting people can and should be motivated only by money or trade
This criticism is also true. Monetary rewards are only effective to a certain extent. After a point, money ceases to inspire people any longer. There's a book called "Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us," by Daniel H. Pink, which goes into explicit detail about this. Robert Kiyosaki agrees, saying that if you truly want to be successful in business, you have to be motivated by something higher than money.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuF...
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4. Viewing customers with contempt
This point essentially just talks about the issue of welfare, which is debatable. I think there are valid points on both sides, and I find it difficult to favor either one. Pass.
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5. Viewing the government as a pure antagonist
I agree with this point as well. Given that Ayn Rand grew up under a totalitarian regime, her fear of government is justified. But government serves many important functions as well, and they include things beyond just military, police, and courts. Ayn Rand may have been critical of anarchism, but she is nevertheless very popular among right-wing anarchists like Stefan Molyneux, and for good reason. The utopian society Ayn Rand describes in her books is virtually identical to the types of societies described by full-fledged anarchists. And although Ayn Rand vehemently insisted that her ideal society was somehow different, she never bothered trying to actually explain what distinguished her imaginary utopia from theirs.
1. Favoring the gold standard
The article says the gold standard is a bad idea, and that the Federal Reserve is a good institution, but I'm not convinced, and a few words from Ben Bernanke are unlikely to persuade me. Maybe if Ayn Rand was the only one advocating the gold standard, and no one else was saying the same thing, I might be less skeptical, because I do believe Ayn Rand's opinions ought to be taken with a grain of salt. But given that the gold standard has also been advocated by people such as Milton Friedman, Robert Kiyosaki, and Donald Trump, I have a much harder time simply dismissing the idea outright. Unlike Ayn Rand, these people do not lack real world business experience, and so their opinions carry significantly more weight.
As for the Federal Reserve, there is an incredibly important book by G. Edward Griffin which I strongly believe every American should read. It's called "The Creature from Jekyll Island," and it gives an absolutely damning exposition of the real nature of the Federal Reserve as an institution.
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
2. Believing people who succeed are inherently superior, and often victims
I actually agree with the article on this point. Having self-confidence is important, but the way Ayn Rand tries to present it is so extreme that it actually contradicts almost everything that genuinely successful businessmen have said on the subject. Dale Carnegie's "How to Win Friends and Influence People" and Napoleon Hill's "The Law of Success" both advocate values which are completely opposite of Ayn Rand's beliefs, and they aren't alone.
For example, Ayn Rand once said that to hire someone smarter than you was to degenerate your own sense of self and submit to mediocrity (or something along those lines – I can't remember the exact quote, but that's the gist of it). But Robert Kiyosaki says, "An intelligent person hires people who are more intelligent than he is." Given that Ayn Rand was never in a position where she actually had to hire anyone, while Robert Kiyosaki was and is, between the two of them, I think I'll take the advice of the one who has some tangible, real world experience.
https://www.facebook.com/RobertKiyosaki/...
Confidence is important, but so is humility. As Aristotle so famously wrote, "The ideal lies at the mean between excess and deficiency." This concept is known as the Golden Mean, and while it may not always apply to everything (after all, it's not possible to be too healthy), it does absolutely apply to the concept of self-confidence. Too little confidence, and you become weak. Too much, and you become reckless. Donald Trump may say there's nothing wrong with having an ego, but even he puts qualifies on that statement, probably due to his personal experience from the fact that he's gotten himself into trouble on occasion because of his own excessive ego, and once even nearly bankrupted his company because he thought he was invincible and therefore didn't need to pay attention. Life can be a harsh mistress, but that's just its way of curbing people's more extreme tendencies and bringing them back down to Earth. Having confidence in yourself and your abilities is good, but being a megalomaniac can be very, very bad.
http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?AynRandDesignPhil...
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
3. Suggesting people can and should be motivated only by money or trade
This criticism is also true. Monetary rewards are only effective to a certain extent. After a point, money ceases to inspire people any longer. There's a book called "Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us," by Daniel H. Pink, which goes into explicit detail about this. Robert Kiyosaki agrees, saying that if you truly want to be successful in business, you have to be motivated by something higher than money.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuF...
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
4. Viewing customers with contempt
This point essentially just talks about the issue of welfare, which is debatable. I think there are valid points on both sides, and I find it difficult to favor either one. Pass.
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
5. Viewing the government as a pure antagonist
I agree with this point as well. Given that Ayn Rand grew up under a totalitarian regime, her fear of government is justified. But government serves many important functions as well, and they include things beyond just military, police, and courts. Ayn Rand may have been critical of anarchism, but she is nevertheless very popular among right-wing anarchists like Stefan Molyneux, and for good reason. The utopian society Ayn Rand describes in her books is virtually identical to the types of societies described by full-fledged anarchists. And although Ayn Rand vehemently insisted that her ideal society was somehow different, she never bothered trying to actually explain what distinguished her imaginary utopia from theirs.
The article has a good point about Stadler talking about longing for even a single peer. I took that as hyperbole.
Regarding #1, I agree completely with the article that using fiat money is better than picking some arbitrary item to trade.
Regarding #3, Fountainhead clearly shows people not motivated by money. I took AS to be a story about people who happened to be motivated by money, and maybe other people in that world were motivated by other things. The looters destroyed the world for everyone.
#5: The thing that stood out to me was how the producers were like deer in the headlight in the face of gov't. They must have had skills to motivate employees, build/maintain their sales channels, stay on top of suppliers, explain their vision to investors, etc, but they lacked the ability to deal with some looters in gov't. It's almost like they didn't even try.