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June 20, 2005
Business and philosophy
When it comes to business, which philosophy do you subscribe to?
1. I believe my business could ultimately be destroyed by factors beyond my control, such as inflexible unions, shifting demographics, competitive monopolies, governmental regulation or acts of god.
2. I believe my business is in complete and utter control of its destiny, regardless of outside factors.
If you picked answer one, then you probably hold stock in determinism, which basically posits that every event, act, and decision is the inevitable consequence of outside influences independent of human will.
If you picked answer two, you picked the more difficult choice but ulitmately, I believe, the right choice: free will.
Author Jim Collins says so, too, in the current issue of Fortune (subscription req'd) as he discusses Southwest Airlines' seemingly impossible success.
"Think of all the events and factors outside managerial control that have hit (the airline industry) since 1972: fuel shocks, interest rate spikes, deregulation, wars and 9/11. And yet the number-one performing company of all publicly traded companies in terms of return to investors for a 30-year period from 1972 to 2002 is (Southwest Airlines). Now what would have happened if the folks at Southwest had said, 'Hey, we can't do anything great because of our environment?' But at Southwest they say, 'We are responsible for our own outcomes.' "
Right on, brother Jim.
Other blogs that reference Business and philosophy:
» http://stevecooper.blogs.com/mindfire/2005/06/in_the_church_o.html from Steve's Mindfire Blog
In the Church of the Customer blog today, Ben McConnel talks about determinism and free will; particularly, do you think you can make a difference in your own life (and business), or do you think it's up to chance? His [Read More]
» Business and philosophy from Broadband and Me
Business and philosophy When it comes to business, which philosophy do you subscribe to? 1. I believe my business could ultimately be destroyed by factors beyond my control, such as inflexible unions, shifting demographics, competitive monopolies, gove... [Read More]
Based on personal onservations/experiences, I'll be inclined to side with "" my business could be destroyed by external outside my control factors"". Let me explain my side, a few years ago a disease called "BSE" hit the UK cattle. Most beef traders went into liquidation within weeks of the disease surfacing.
Therefore, it is conclusive that external factors are more powerful.
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