My comments about Smith, Jobs, and Chambers

Mike king wrote:
There are many ways in which Adam Smith, an Eighteenth Century philosopher, Herb Chambers, a current entrepreneur, and Steve Jobs, a technological visionary are similar.  The two things that these three men have in common are their thirst for perfection, and the ways in which they set themselves separate from the societies that they live or lived in.  In the Eighteenth Century, Adam Smith worked to create an economic system that could be superior to the Marxist theories that were being proposed and put forward at the time.  Smith argued that there should be little regulation of the economy, which is far from what Marxists thought.  Smith also believed that a society should consist of a small public sector, a large private sector, and a low tax rate.  Smith’s intentions were not to create an economic system that he liked, but rather one that would make society better.  His ambitious thoughts and ideas were always proposed for the well-being of the society as a whole. Smith strove to perfect society, and he believed that creating an economy that was focused around the satisfaction of the consumers was the way to do this.  Smith’s ideas of self-competition led to the creation of the free market economic system that is so widely used in the world today.  He was a fantastic thinker, but it is clear that there was something that set him apart from the rest of the people in his society.  Smith is said to have done simply ridiculous things like stirring bread and butter into his tea by accident, and tripping and falling into a tanning pit while he was thinking.  Smith’s clumsy and absent-minded behavior at times may have set him apart from the society in which he grew up in, but it is clear that this had no effect on his thinking abilities.

    Herb Chambers in currently one of the biggest automobile dealership entrepreneurs in the world.  His success is a direct result of his unending strive for perfection.  Part of perfection for Chambers in the expansion of his business.  Chambers is constantly buying and selling dealerships to make a larger profit.  Moreover, he has purchased several automobile service and repair shops, adding them to his vast business conglomerate.  Chambers also seems to have an edge to him that many typical people do not understand. At any given time, Chambers has no exact idea of how many dealerships he owns, because he is always selling them.  The typical person would think, “How can you have no idea what you actually own?”  Herbs seems to think that this information is unimportant, while most people would probably be very concerned and away of the precise amounts of what they own.  Chamber’s drive for perfection is extremely evident with his intense intentions to please his customers.  In one particular case, Chambers set a meeting with his executives to determine the kinds of apples that they were to give out to customers in their service shops.  One would wonder how he can spend his time doing things like this, given how busy he is.  Chambers called the meeting to perfect the apple situation so that he could please his customers as much as possible, something that is an extremely important aspect of how he does business.

    Steve Jobs, long-time Apple CEO has certainly done his best to strive for perfection.  Jobs who was once viewed simply as an innovator, not a businessman, has created countless products in the last ten or so years that have caused Apple to succeed tremendously.  Job’s innovated thinking is centered around appeal to the customer.  He has successfully been able to create products that he know will sell in huge quantities.  Not only that, but he has been with the company in hard times and good times. In the
late Nineties, Apple failed as a company.  Jobs came back several years later, building the company up to what it is today.  The Apple that we know today is a direct result of Job’s strive for perfection.  Job’s determination for perfection may be derived from his upbringing.  As a child, he was an orphan, and he knew at any early age that he was an intellectual.  Moreover, Job’s has done things that the typical person would not do.  When his parents could not pay for college, he enrolled in college anyways, and talked the dean into letting him stay in school for free.  This is something that is highly unlikely to happen, or even be attempted in our world today.  However, through his bold action, Jobs was able to show the dean that he was determined to receive a good education.

Comparing Adam Smith, Steve Jobs, and Herb Chambers

How are these three people: a philosopher, technological visionary, and entrepreneur  similar?  Write a three paragraph commentary here.  

Comparing Adam Smith, Steve Jobs, and Herb Chambers (2)

Patrick Walsh wrote:

Adam Smith, Steve Jobs, and Herb Chambers have proven to be revolutionaries of their time through their drive, persistence, and by striving for nothing less than their own respective ideas of "perfection."  It is made clear through each article that each self-made-man achieved their status and fame through this idea that perfection is the only acceptable result.  Adam Smith believed that “the driving force of individual self-help and self-improvement…would win through, whatever the obstacles.”  Smith stood strongly for his progressive principles because he believed that wealth derives from “the uniform, constant, and uninterrupted effort of every man to better his conditions.”  Although Smith lived two centuries ago, and it is difficult to understand the common ideas and beliefs of society at that time, it is clear that Smith faced an uphill battle to set his principles into motion.  However, as we look back on Smith’s ideas, it is hard to imagine a world where the common man does not try to put himself in optimal opportunities to better himself.  Therefore, Smith’s basic principles: free trade, putting consumers before producers, and encouraging competition were all radical, but vital principles that now make up the building blocks of the world that we live in today.

Steve Jobs - co-founder, chairman, and former chief executive of Apple Inc. – achieved his success in a similar fashion to that of Adam Smith, although slightly more radical.  By striving for nothing short of perfection, Jobs’ Apple Inc. is the second most valuable company in the world, behind only ExxonMobil.  The perfection that Jobs craved demanded a lot of risk-taking, and as a result, Jobs became known for his risky behavior.  Early on in his career, Jobs became known as a great visionary and promoter, but was not respected as a businessman.  This was unacceptable to Jobs.  Instead of just giving into the pressure that he faced, Jobs embraced the criticism and continued to make very risky decisions.  For example, after releasing the iPod, the iPhone came along years later.  However, by releasing the iPhone, he effectively “cannibalized” the iPod, as the capabilities of the iPod were all available on the iPhone.  Furthermore, Jobs also created iTunes, despite being told by skeptics that it would generate very little profit.  Going with his gut instinct, Jobs received all potential income related to all Apple products, because the “apps” that were the focal point for the iPhone were all sold through iTunes.  Therefore, after the sale of the product itself, Jobs was not simply done with the consumer; but rather, the consumer had only begun purchases with Apple, as everything that went into the product was only sold on iTunes.  These critical decisions that Jobs made show that he will strive for nothing short of perfection, and he will always go the extra step in order to ensure that he is achieving perfection.

Finally, Herb Chambers, the poster-boy for rags-to-riches success, generated all of his wealth by going the extra step, and trying to be perfect in every aspect of his life.  Chambers states, “I’m not happy unless it’s perfect.”  This particular scene, from when Chambers was only thirteen years old, shows his mentality: To pay his rent when he was thirteen, he collected shopping carts in the Stop & Shop parking lot.  He said, “It was almost a game with me, to see how few carriages I could have sitting out in the parking lot.  The ultimate goal: no carriages out there that somebody didn’t have their hands on.”  Both Chambers and Jobs alike, seem to be known for their endless drive for perfection, and their close friends and family believe that although being a positive for business, it eats away at their health and mental stability in their own personal lives.  By seeking flawlessness and success in literally every situation, Chambers has found himself in the position he is in today.  Another scene that is highlighted in the article is one in which Chambers entered a building to sell his copy machine supplies to a hard-nosed businessman, who initially kicks Chambers’ briefcase down the stairs and essentially tells him to get lost.  Chambers described his thought process, “This is a moment I have to win,” he said to himself, “You don’t give in.”  Chambers then proceeded to march back up the stairs and convinced the same man to buy his supplies.  Ironically, the man offered Chambers and job, which he declined.  Clearly, the success of Chambers, Jobs, and Smith came from a focus on the small details and an unending strive for perfection that essentially forces each of them to not stop until they have achieved such perfection.

Barbarians At The Gate

This is the story about a leveraged buyout offer (LBO) of RJR Nabisco in the 1980's.   The made for television movie is important because of the hostile nature of the company's takeover.

Gasland

"It is happening all across America-rural landowners wake up one day to find a lucrative offer from an energy company wanting to lease their property. Reason? The company hopes to tap into a reservoir dubbed the "Saudi Arabia of natural gas." Halliburton developed a way to get the gas out of the ground-a hydraulic drilling process called "fracking"-and suddenly America finds itself on the precipice of becoming an energy superpower. " Written by Sundance Film Festival

Inside the Meltdown

PBS’ great documentary about the U.S. government’s responses to the economic collapse in September of 2008.

From Brendan Wright:     Inside Job conveys the fact that large investment banks are to blame for our current economic situation. The film uses the effective metaphor of comparing the banking industry to an oil tanker. An oil tanker is compartmentalized, dividing one large pool of oil into smaller, manageable pools of oil. If the large oil pool was not divided, the ship would be at risk of capsizing or losing all of the oil should something happen. In the case of the banking industry, the economist, who provides the metaphor, that the banking industry should be divided into smaller, more manageable banks, as opposed to a few immense banks. Should these few banks fail, we would all go under. God forbid that day ever comes…

               With these few immense deregulated banks, there is ample room for error. As seen in the once model of a sound economy, Iceland experienced the consequences of deregulation before us. The deregulation led to huge borrowing, which led to a bubble. Housing prices skyrocketed and unemployment tripled as the banks went under, shortly after being upgraded to a AAA rating. Government regulators did nothing to help the people.

The United States economy took a turn down the wrong road by starting a process of deregulation. This deregulation allowed for risky investments from speculations with deposits. Banks began to consolidate with the knowledge that if they went under, they would be bailed out by the government to prevent a total economic collapse.

Inside Job

This is a commercial film narrated by Matt Damon about the reasons why the U.S. economy collapsed in September 2008.