What is the nature of the relationship between an employer and an employee? Is it based on Paternalism, the idea a company is like a family with the employer as the patriarch to which employees subordinate themselves? Or is it based on Individualism, with both the entrepreneur and their employees, in pursuit of their own …
As an entrepreneur you will make countless decisions on a daily basis. Some will be small, some big. The net balance of making the right decisions will ultimately determine the success of your venture. So, how do you know if the decisions you make are the right ones? The answer to this lies in the …
It is often thought that the ability to compromise is an essential trait of the successful entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs are often asked to compromise in negotiations when buying or selling, working with others, developing a product or service and countless other situations. Compromising sounds reasonable; but is it? First, let’s be clear about the definition of …
The statement “I am sometimes wrong, but never in doubt” may seem comical, but actually has some validity. It is reasonable to doubt that which you are uncertain of, but unreasonable to doubt that which you are certain of. Skepticism can cripple an entrepreneur’s decision making with doubt. It is not uncommon to hear people …
Decision making is not all long term but a daily if not hourly or minute by minute activity of every entrepreneur. How successfully you make these decisions is equally important as they accumulate toward achieving long term success. Consider the following mental exercise. If I ask you what is 2×2 you would intuitively answer 4. …
Being pragmatic is commonly viewed as a positive attribute for an entrepreneur to possess. This is because being pragmatic is generally defined as being practical, rational and fact based. Decisions and actions based on facts and reason underpin all of Objectivist thinking. By this definition these are good attributes for an entrepreneur to practice. However, …
With an Objectivist ethics based on Individualism, what moral conduct does this imply for an entrepreneur? Let’s begin with honesty and integrity. Honesty demands you be truthful with others. Integrity demands you be truthful with yourself. To be truthful is to be aligned with reality. To be untruthful is to be in conflict with reality, …
Historically business practices have been considered at a minimum amoral if not in fact immoral. Business financing and profit seeking in all its forms, historically referred to as “usury”, was considered as immoral even by Aristotle, as he deemed it unproductive. It was condemned and punished by the Catholic Church during the Dark and Middle …
It may seem odd to suggest that philosophy has anything to do with entrepreneurship. It is no surprise, like most people, an entrepreneur might find little value in studying philosophical ideas based on their limited exposure to philosophy. To many, philosophy conjures up images of Greek scholars in long robes proclaiming, as Plato did, that …
Following is the “white paper” essay of the lecture Social Entrepreneurship – An Objective Perspective, given at the University of Victoria and the University of Calgary in 2020, which can be viewed on YouTube at https://youtu.be/g987nJy_n7c. Synopsis Enterprises are traditionally defined as either for-profit businesses or non-profit organizations. The social enterprise is a new classification …
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