Today we are in Kansas City for the EntreLeadership 1-Day event teaching business owners and leaders how to grow and build their business. And I just want to say that I am a capitalist! I have no problem with someone leaving the cave, killing something, dragging it home, and keeping it!
The Bible specifically says the diligent will prosper. If I decide to put my energy into creating a product that changes or enhances lives, and I make money for that, what’s the problem?
There is this crazy idea that you shouldn’t be able to make a lot of money for your hard work. If you do, you should give it all away. Who came up with this idea?
I don’t know who came up with the idea, but I do know who brings it up all the time. It’s always someone who doesn’t have anything. Someone who isn’t willing to work their tail off to obtain a better standard of living.
Someone who thinks that life and money should be handed to them. This is the same person who wants to partake in luxuries but doesn’t want the company who makes those luxuries to have any money.
Question for ya: How would Apple research, develop, and get the iPhone out to market if it didn’t have any cash? “Didn’t a lot of this stuff start in a garage somewhere?” Yes! And do you remember how long it took to get to market? Be reasonable.
Does this mean that I don’t think businesses should give? Not at all. In fact, David Green, CEO of Hobby Lobby, recently gave $70 million to a university. $70 MILLION! Now ya can’t do that if you don’t have any money, can you?
On the way back from lunch today, I saw two people standing in a median, each with a stop sign on a stick that read, “STOP CORPORATE TAKEOVER.” That’s right. Two healthy-looking people, in the middle of a workday, denouncing corporate “greed” to everyone who drove by.
I didn’t see that they were getting much support. After all, most of us were on our way to earn our living by working for those “greedy” corporations who pay us.
I believe most people are not upset about what other people have. They’re upset about what they don’t have. Again, the diligent prosper. If you want more, instead of being jealous of someone else, try working harder. Or come up with other ways to make money.
Don’t be a hater! (That’s street lingo.) I once heard that the difference between jealousy and envy is with envy, you want what someone has. With jealousy, you want what they have, and you don’t want them to have it.
Let’s just work on getting what we want and not worry about what others have, mmmkay? Please share some situations that you’ve experienced.
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Chris,
Great post! I’d like to throw in my $.02 if I may.
Envy and jealousy are very serious matters. In fact, they are condemned by the Bible (10th Commandment: Thou Shall not Covet…). They are just as serious and damaging as gossip. Typically, one manifests itself internally and the other, externally. Both are products of pride. When envy starts manifesting itself externally, it breaks another Commandment (Thou shall not Steal) b/c it leads to taking what does not belong to you. “Envy is the major philosophical motive or engine, of the destruction of Western civilization in our time” (Thomas Dorman, MD). The jealous person or group not only want what someone else has, if they cannot get it, they will try to destroy the very thing they want so neither have it. Enter ‘PC Equality’. If I can’t have what you have, then NO one can have it!
When I hear people railing against “fat cats” or “greedy” corporations; I tell them to give away their iphone, their Nike shoes, their Izod shirt, their bank account, their car, bike, electricity, computer, plasma TV, radio and burn down their house b/c every single item is (or contains components) produced by a “greedy” corporation. Of course, that does not fit their narrative does it? I have a friend who “hates greedy corporations” and operates a hosting company. He will have nothing to do with corporations, he said. I asked him what company manufactured the servers and provided bandwidth to his company. Needless to say, you could have heard a pin drop.
I applaud wealthy individuals and corporations who VOLUNTARILY give millions and billions away to charity. When it’s made compulsory, I have a BIG problem (it’s called stealing via legislation).
There is a great book I’m reading called “Humility – True Greatness” by CJ Mahaney. It should be required reading for every American.
Thanks Chris and have a great weekend!
Lance
hahaha…I love it! Great comment Lance!!!