Category: individual achievement

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individual achievement video

Video: Twelve Lessons Learned from Steve Jobs

Guy Kawasaki worked for Steve Jobs twice in his career, serving as an “evangelist” for Macintosh computers, among other things. So the lessons he learned from the revolutionary Mr. Jobs are worth thinking about. One of his lessons is skepticism (to put it nicely) about the opinions of “experts.” There are a lot of experts out there, and often they are wrong — or, at any rate, right only for a subset of cases. If you have an exceptional vision, exceptional drive, or simply one exceptional notion, you may want to just ignore the naysayers amongst professional know-​it-​alls. (This echoes a theme I floated earlier this week.)

Oh, and if you are not familiar with the talks given at TED conferences, check out ted​.com.

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ideological culture individual achievement too much government

Skipping the Political Pomp

Tim Thomas is the All-​Star goaltender for the Boston Bruins, winners of the National Hockey League’s 2011 Stanley Cup — which “was won by defense as much as by offense,” President Barack Obama said yesterday at a White House event honoring the team:

Tim Thomas posted two shutouts in the Stanley Cup finals and set an all-​time record for saves in the postseason, and he also earned the honor of being only the second American ever to be recognized as the Stanley Cup playoffs MVP.

But Thomas wasn’t there to hear the president’s praise. He chose not to attend, explaining cogently in a statement:
Tim Thomas

I believe the Federal government has grown out of control, threatening the Rights, Liberties, and Property of the People.… This is in direct opposition to the Constitution and the Founding Fathers vision for the Federal government.

Because I believe this, today I exercised my right as a Free Citizen, and did not visit the White House. This was not about politics or party, as in my opinion both parties are responsible for the situation we are in as a country.

Boston Bruins President Cam Neely explained that Thomas’s “views certainly do not reflect those of … the Bruins organization.”

Sportswriter Joe McDonald charged that “when the president of the United States invites you … you go and represent the team,” and that “Thomas instead chose to represent himself.”

Yes, as Thomas admitted: “This was about a choice I had to make as an INDIVIDUAL.”

His quiet, conscientious choice to stay home — no news conference or interviews — was heard loud and clear by me.

It’s Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

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ideological culture individual achievement

You’re the Top

Rob Walton is rich, $21 billion rich.

An email I received yesterday from the folks at Wal-​Mart Watch (WMW) implores me to click to a website to vote for Mr. Walton as “the worst of the 1 percent … the person who is doing the most with their wealth to exploit the rest of the country.”

Could this be true?

“The Waltons inherited that wealth,” WMW says, “much of it was created by paying many workers at poverty-​level wages, offering poor benefits, and lowering conditions in the supply chain by demanding ever-​lower prices.”

Count me out.

Even Sam Walton, founder of Wal-​Mart, had the right to give his wealth to whomever he wished, especially his children. Besides, as chairman of Wal-​Mart for 20 years now, Rob’s earned plenty on his own.

The email forgets to mention that Wal-​Mart provides more to the poor through lower prices than the federal government provides through food stamps.

And hey, didn’t workers at Wal-​Mart apply for — and freely accept — their jobs? How many “living-​wage” jobs has WMW created?

The sentence in bold type signals the real gripe, I bet: Rob Walton has transgressed by supporting causes that “advance a right wing agenda.” The Walton Family Foundation (of which he’s a board member) has donated to the Heritage Foundation, Cato Institute, school choice groups, and others.

Horrors! If Rob Walton is the worst of the 1 percent, the self-​appointed vanguard of the 99 percent ought to occupy a mirror.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

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free trade & free markets ideological culture individual achievement

A True Revolutionary

The key to success in business? Profitably serve as wide a customer base as possible. Mass production is the lynchpin. And it’s also at the heart of why many intellectuals hate capitalism: Serving the mass of mankind is “beneath” them. They have a higher calling. They serve Justice, or The Truth. Or, say, Beauty.

This curious by-​product of capitalism is what Austrian-​American economist Ludwig von Mises called “The Anti-​Capitalist Mentality”: The tendency of intellectuals to react against the very instrument that serves the common man even while they ballyhoo the “cause” of the common man.

Mises and others focused on intellectuals’ envy as the reason for their strange, seemingly inexplicable “turn.” Why bite the hand that feeds so many? Because that hand doesn’t reward intellectuals enough!

F.A. Hayek added another reason: Incomprehension. How markets work is beyond the designs of any single mind. Intellectuals tend to be prejudiced in favor of singular minds. Theirs, at least.

The great revelation at the end of the last century followed from that: Command-​and-​control societies must fail. Regardless, though, “planning” does happen in a free society. Piecemeal. You plan. I plan. And entrepreneurs plan to serve us both. 

And entrepreneurs of genius successfully serve millions, make a lot of money for all concerned, and find new ways to make life easier, more enjoyable.

Steve Jobs was such a man. He died yesterday, age 56. As head of Apple and Pixar, he changed society by serving the masses.

And even intellectuals approved.

A revolutionary, indeed.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

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ideological culture individual achievement

Commemorating Alan Bock

Journalist Alan Bock died in May after a long struggle with cancer. 

In addition to many articles penned as an editorial writer for the Orange County Register as well as for various magazines, Bock also wrote four books: Ecology Action Guide, The Gospel Life of Hank Williams, Ambush at Ruby Ridge: How Government Agents Set Randy Weaver Up and Took His Family Down, and Waiting to Inhale: The Politics of Medical Marijuana. The last two deal trenchantly with government assaults on our liberty — assaults as foolish as they are destructive.

In his obituary for the Orange County Register, Greg Hardesty reports that Bock “cultivated a loyal following as a passionate defender of individual liberty and freedom.” He “cut a figure as a bookish intellect — yet one whose friendly, easygoing nature endeared him to family, friends and colleagues.”

Representative Dana Rohrabacher recalls that Bock “smiled every time he made a point that furthered his basic beliefs in freedom.”

His 25-​year-​old son Stephen Bock says that his father always had a smile on his face. 

Decades ago, Alan met with me when I was facing prosecution for draft resistance, and subsequently wrote a great editorial defending me. We kept in touch in the years since. My own acquaintance confirms the consensus that he was a very learned, effective and happy warrior for freedom. 

We talked politics many times, but I wish we’d found the time to talk about Hank Williams.

Alan Bock will be missed.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

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education and schooling free trade & free markets individual achievement

Entrée “Preneurial”

Today is Memorial Day, but the larger season is one of graduations, from college and high school and even lower grades. It’s fitting, then, to take a step back and consider the philanthropy of Peter Thiel, who is working on a different course.

Thiel, PayPal co-​founder and early Facebook investor, made headlines last year as he began his anti-​scholarship program, “20 Under 20.” He is giving $100,000 to 20 young people under 21, but on one condition — that they not go to college.

Instead, his bequests amount to angel seed money for young go-​getters to do something original, entrepreneurial.

Now, Thiel has announced his first 20 recipients. An AP story by Marcus Wohlsen leads with the circumstances of one recipient, Nick Cammarata, a young genius programmer. Cammarata wasn’t one of those grade A students. Instead of studying hard, he did what he liked, including reading books on subjects he was interested in. And programming, which got him attention outside his school and town.

Like other recipients of the Thiel hundred grand grant, he plans to parlay the money into a hopeful tech project.

The article dutifully quotes skeptics of Thiel’s program, and mentions the oft-​quoted statistic that workers with college degrees have been laid off at a lower rate than non-​degreed workers.

But this misses the main point of Thiel’s intent. He’s not interested in making “workers.” He’s interested in creating entrepreneurs. The people who hire workers.

A very different goal.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.