Is acting in your own best interest the best for everyone?
I have thinking about this a lot lately. I recently began the process of packing up some things from the gulf coast home to take with me to the “undisclosed location” and saw my collection of Ayn Rand books. I thought of the influence these books have had on people and reflected on several things. First, is the message in the books and the second is a thought I read somewhere … I wish I could remember where … but the concept was that the “sign of an educated mind is to entertain an idea without accepting it” … so with that in mind … read this and let me know your thoughts. This entry is designed to make you think … not to persuade you to think in my way … as we know we all can’t be right… ha.
When we act in a way that we feel that serves the other person … are we doing that from our perspective or theirs. What if what we feel is best for the other person is not what they feel is best for them. In this case, our actions are detrimental to our relationship and hurts the other person … even though our intentions are the opposite. This gets worse when we act selfishly and justify our actions that affect other people because we convince ourselves that we are also acting in their best interest. Who are we to decide what is best, or good enough for someone else? This might be the problem with the *liberal* part of our society is that we are making value judgments on what is best for our fellow man. Of course, their are problems with the *conservative* part of our society that assumes that a transaction is zero sum in which someone wins and someone loses. “if the less fortunate want to succeed, then they just need to work harder” … Balance please.
I believe that the world does not reward those that work *hard*, but those work smart and intelligently. By intelligently, I mean that you act *after* you think of the cause and effect to you and your your family and to those you interact with. The corporate world is continually *selling* the virtues of hard and continued work with the *promise* of some future reward …. which is neither defined or guaranteed. The common man is *sold* on working for the common good and on continued loyalty and the future *promise* of some level of future comfort, yet they keep raising the bar without raising the reward. Clearly, someone is working for their own best interest or the best interest of the ambiguous shareholder, which most often is the leech that expects a greater return for his money and time than he would ever give to the people that do the work. This is the equivalent of someone looking after his own interest and then telling you (selling you) that they are looking after your best interests …. while driving nicer cars, living in nicer houses, and going on better vacations. No one is better than another man and from that logic everyone needs to negotiate a bargain that lets someone else *keep* their value. The argument is that if someone strike a bad deal (by continued to work through coercion) that they are agreeing to the deal. Not so … if the deal is struck by manipulation, not only does the *winner* get less than he expects, but the *loser* will rarely perform at his or her highest ability and will always be looking for the bigger, better, deal (bbd). Why not let that person get that bbd with you and have a long a profitable relationship for both of you?
So….If we all work for our own best interest….and we expect and…*let*… the people interact do the same… won’t we return to the same level of pride and quality that is sadly missing today in this world? A return to excellence and prosperity requires the recognition of value in the efforts and ability in everyone, not just yourself.
Here is what I see …. there is a general discontent and dissatisfaction in this world today as people who have ability are forced to either put up with receiving less than they deserve for their production which has caused the general man to “go on strike” and produce less than they are paid. The man acting in his own interest without recognizing the reciprocal in his counterpoints continue to demand more … but with coercion, rather than cooperation. Then we reach the boiling point, where we all say no more. Never never never again.
Here is the alternative…Your brain is the most beautiful and perfect thing you have. Use it. For good. Think of how you can provide a service that is rewarded equal to the quality your provide. Refuse, flat out, to let anyone who does not provide a fair bargain or expects to bargain by coercion. Go on strike! If the people of the world that use logic and their brains to strike fair bargains in the exchange or goods and services through cooperation…then we all prosper.
Act in your own best interest by providing a valuable service to the world and expect no less from the people you interact with and we are truly acting in the best interest of the world.
“I shall never live my life for the sake of another man, nor shall I ask another man to live for the sake of mine.” – John Galt
I hope that you enjoy this post. – Jeff McElroy. If you like this type of information, please click here to subscribe my newsletter.
