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.