As mentioned in a recent article, I absolutely adore listening to podcasts, and one genre I listen to frequently is business-related podcasts. So many of the entrepreneurs and CEOs featured on these shows talk about their vision, which is important. However, many of their motives seemingly revolve around the notion of wanting to make the world a better place. While this is commendable to a certain degree, many of these deposits of wisdom are missing something; the drive to, you know, make money.
I work in the field of Biotechnology and the industry is rife with starry-eyed idealists. At the surface, this isn’t a bad thing; a relatively large group of well-intentioned people who want to help mankind is commendable. Sadly, this pendulum swings too far; talking about moving into new markets, opportunities to drive profit growth, making sure investors get a respectable return, or wanting to monopolize a certain space is frowned upon. In my past experiences, I’ve been met with Well, the drugs should be free anyways even after I’ve pointed out that drug prices fund their paychecks. Whatever happened to Upton Sinclair’s quote? Another common retort is I don’t care about money, yet nobody seems to volunteer to work for free.
We live in a capitalist society; however, it seems that talking about the opportunity to make more money is frowned upon. We love hearing the Steve Jobs’ type of entrepreneurs who stand at a podium and say visionary statements, fluff such as changing the world. Statements such as these often receive grand applause, however the founder who pivots his company to a more lucrative opportunity is viewed negatively. Rare is the founder who blatantly comes out and says I started this company to make money. The reason for that is because it would cause bad publicity, we’ve now conditioned our nation’s executives to either peddle talking points about an unquantifiable vision, or to avoid talking about new markets entirely. We the people can legitimize financial candor again, but we have to make the conscious choice to do so.
There is a lot of talk in our modern society about wealth inequality, and what can be done to close the gap The term wealth inequality projects mental images of lavish yachts, champagne bottles and impractical Italian-made sportscars. While there is some legitimacy to the claim of that behavior not benefiting society, the bigger risk to society is the Money is bad narrative discouraging innovations, and hence these visionary products people love so much never happen. Want to close the wealth gap? Then pursue a lucrative opportunity!
Also, there is a social stigma around money. Society conditions us from an early age to not be greedy (an ethically dubious message that maybe we should reconsider? Since we are all at least a little greedy?). Many a lifestyle pundit (eww…pundits) will caution their followers to not chase money because they find the practice unfulfilling. These pundits-of questionable qualifications- will say money shouldn’t be your primary purpose, while charging their sucker students to sit through this wishful thinking. So, I’ll say something controversial and inflammatory-I might even get canceled for saying this; there is nothing wrong with wanting to make money. I repeat: there is nothing wrong with wanting to make money. Personally, I think it’s better to wholeheartedly chase a financial incentive than to be adrift and lacking purpose.
None of this is to discredit the work that nonprofits do. There is absolutely a place for them in our society, and we would be worse off without them. The same starry-eyed idealists I mentioned before would do well spending their initiative in thinktanks, universities, schools, hospitals and other such settings. After all, life is far too short to spend it in a place where your values are not reflected in the work you do, and it is certainly too short to conceal your true self. However, there is a place in the world for those who want to make money as well. Again, there is nothing wrong with that.
Frankly, anyone reading this in a developed Western nation shouldn’t need to be reminded of this. Our fathers and grandfathers fought in conflicts against anti-capitalist regimes around the world in the latter half of the 20th century to ensure capitalism’s place in the world. I recently took a vacation to two nations that were communist states until 1989, and their people were the first ones to admit that capitalism is the superior system.
Profiteers are not your enemy. Rise and grind.
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