| | ... sort of an Earl Nightengale story. We all generally accept entrpreneurship as an ineffable quality. Austrian economics stresses this, and they debate among themselves whether it is "risk" or "uncertainty" (two different things) or bringing inventions to market or reducing market inefficiencies or some mix of them or others, etc., etc. We Objectivists have a mythology that separates Hank Rearden from Eddie Williers, but in the Valley, Dr. Akston says that the remarkable thing about his three students is that they were normal men. In other words, if you are not encumbered with the wrong idea, the right ideas will bring great achievements.
Even President Obama in his infamous "you didn't build that" moment began that paragraph by noting that many people are smart (but not rich) and many people work hard (but are not rich). He is not alone in understanding that intelligence and diligence are necessary by not sufficient.
We Objectivists are not alone in downplaying luck. It is generally known that people who believe that success comes from luck are notoriously unsuccessful. Perhaps Louis Pasteur's words are the best summary: Chance favors the prepared mind.
How, then, does one "prepare the mind"? "The Way to First Base" offers a description of the stadium, something about the rules of the game, and a little coaching on how to play it.
Like Horatio Alger, Earl Nightengale represented an earlier time when success in general, but especially in business was still widely respected. Earl Nigthtengale lived in Ayn Rand's generation, when that respect was eroded. Rand spoke of the "return of the men of the mind" and how we would recognize that event. Competition among popular speakers for the roads, means, methods, habits, rules and laws of success - especially in business - would be one signal.
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