It’s not about the money
This site is about achieving personal aspirations using business methodologies that have proved very successful for America’s titans of industry from the Gilded Age through to today. Accumulators of substantial wealth have a combination of natural and nurtured talents that can be contrasted with achievers in any academic, administrative, artistic, physical, political, social, or other spheres in which there is concerted competition for excellence. Whilst the intention of this site is to guide the reader, based on the experiences of others, it is not exclusively intended for those seeking to achieve supernormal levels of financial wealth.
The early advantage that achievers in any field have is their ability to succinctly define their goals and assert great effort, under the tutelage of mentors and/or with partners, to action what is humanly possible. Attainments beyond any sum of their actions are not automatic and are only sustainable when the rewards to society are greater than that to individuals. The pursuit of purely personal ambition, therefore, is unlikely to be sustainable. Equally, societies that fail to reward individuals are typically behind in the provision of quality education, communication, environmental, health, justice, and transport infrastructures.
At the time of writing there is any number of books, newspaper and magazine articles, and websites critical of capitalism and its accompanying income and wealth disparities. What we are witnessing globally is a repeat of populist discontent that marked the end of the nineteenth century and preceded the onset of America’s industrialized economy. That economy has all but closed and is being replaced by an evolution of information-communication technologies. Despite decades in the making, many people remain unprepared for this new economic era.
The purpose of this book is to empower readers to chart paths to their own self-defined aspirations during periods of economic change and beyond.