Entrepreneurship-Greed is good for you. at RunningWithBulls.com

Entrepreneurship-Greed is good for you.

Published by bbt December 26th, 2005 in bernard, irishblogs, personal, runningwithbulls.com

I am not sure if James Corbett of EirePreneur (who incidently, I see has changed his URL) is greedy, but if he is then apparently it is good for his health.

I am not saying that greed is good for you, or that all entrepreneurs are greedy. This is the view of the Economist.

“[…] one group is setting an inspiring counter-example: there is no apparent retirement age for tycoons and corporate raiders. The grand-daddy of them all is Kirk Kerkorian, often described in a magnificently deadpan phrase as the “88-year-old Las Vegas-based corporate raider”. Mr Kerkorian made his fortune in airlines and hotels. But since last May he has bought almost 10% of General Motors and has been piling pressure on the company’s management, in an effort to get his man on to the board and shake the place up.”

The secret of long business life, apparently is:

First, be your own boss—then nobody can sack you or force you to retire. Voters and managers, who control the fates of politicians and of ordinary workers, are foolishly susceptible to ageist prejudice. Shareholders, by contrast, don’t care how wrinkly a chap looks so long as he delivers the dividends. Second, never retire—it rots the brain. Mr [Rupert] Murdoch once returned an advance he had been given to produce his autobiography, remarking that sitting down to write his life story would be like admitting it was all over.

Finally, “greed”—the pursuit of wealth—is obviously good for you: keeping at it is helping to keep these men young. The money, evidently, is not the point. The Kerkorians, Redstones, Icahns and Murdochs have stashed away more billions than they could ever spend on new houses or wives, yet they go on slugging. Maybe it’s the lust for power that drives them to fulfil their evolutionary destiny. Maybe it’s the love of the chase. Either way, it beats shuffleboard.

So James, if you are greedy, then you have better chance of going further;)
(Oh, and Happy Christmas!)

2 Responses to “Entrepreneurship-Greed is good for you.”

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1 James Corbett Dec 27th, 2005 at 4:31 pm

I *am* greedy Bernard, not financially but in terms of independence and ’self-determination’. Financial independence would be a nice bonus but the one thing I really want is to be boss of my own destiny.

Approaching the 6 year anniversary of leaving my last ‘real’ job I’m happier than ever, eventhough I’m still not earning as much as I did back then. I have a more modest lifestyle now, am healthier mentally if not physically and enjoying life much more. There’s nothing quite like being your own boss
2 bbt Dec 27th, 2005 at 4:46 pm

Hi James,

I would like to be in the same position as you seem to be. I think that more and more IT related people are opting out of the “24-7 always available” stressful type of positions.

Even if home-working was more available, then I would be quite happy with the “always available” mentality.

Unfortunately, not enough companies feel that home working is a good idea.

These companies in the long run are going to loose out as more and more people start demanding the proper balance between the office and the home.

Congrats for the break-away, and I hope to be able to follow suite! Maybe in a few years tho!

Happy Christmas, and have a good New year! I will have to put a face to the blog, as it were!

bernard