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    • Origins of Virtue and Outliers

    Posted on | January 14, 2009 | No Comments

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    If we are to recover social harmony and virtue, if we are to build back into society the virtues that made it work for us, it is vital that we reduce the power and scope of the state. … It means devolution: devolution of power over people’s lives to parishes, computer networks, clubs, teams, self-help groups, small businesses – everything small and local. It means a massive disassembling of the public bureaucracy. Let national and international governments wither into their minimal function of national defence and redistribution of wealth (directly – without an intervening and greedy bureaucracy). Let Kropotkin’s vision of a world of free individuals return. Let everybody rise and fall by their reputation. I am not so naive as to think this can happen overnight, or that some form of government is not necessary. But I do question the necessity of a government that dictates the minutest details of life and squats like a giant flea upon the back of the nation.

    … Just as trade between countries is the best recipe for friendship between them, so exchange between enfranchised and empowered individuals is the best recipe for cooperation. We must encourage social and material exchange between equals for that is the raw material of trust, and trust is the foundation of virtue.

    - Matt Ridley, The Origins of Virtue

    Looking through the library at Caroline Collective, I serendipitously discovered The Origins of Virtue, by Matt Ridley, author of Genome and The Red Queen. I had just had lunch with Melissa Hensley of the Greater Houston Partnership, during which we discussed Malcolm Gladwell’s upcoming visit to Houston via the Outliers book tour (January 21, co-hosted by Inprint). I read Outliers soon after; and the two books seemed to complete a cycle: Origins examines how individual interests can lead to cooperation within communities, while Outliers explores how community mores can lead to individual success.

    I’ve always been keenly interested in the relationships between the individual and the community. Many people have asked why I named my company “AYN Brand.” The simple answer is that the name emerged as an acronym+shortcut for “All You Need” to Brand. But I’m also a fan of Ayn Rand and Atlas Shrugged; and John Galt’s speech sums up how I approach what I do:

    The world will change when you are ready to pronounce this oath: I swear by my Life and my love of it that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for the sake of mine.

    For those who know me as a progressive community advocate/activist, they don’t understand how my charitable work aligns with the Objectivist philosophy of Ayn Rand. The difference, I believe, is in the interpretation of “live for the sake of another man…” – the mistake many people make is in thinking that to serve is to sacrifice. It’s not. To serve is to contribute to the improvement of the environment and community that you live in and live off of. Community service is – or should be – cooperative and mutually beneficial, so that all who participate in it thrive.

    Personally, I don’t do charitable work because I believe that other people’s needs are more important than mine. I do it because I believe all of our needs are important, and one of my needs is to be a source of inspiration and support. I derive intrinsic value from helping other people succeed. It makes me feel good. I also believe in Ridley’s assertion that “we must encourage social and material exchange between equals” – between enfranchised and empowered individuals – “for that is the raw material of trust, and trust is the foundation of virtue.” And since not everyone is enfranchised and empowered, nor respected as “equals,” yet; I need to be part of the solution in rectifying that.

    From a business aspect, I believe companies must actively contribute to the success of their communities because they are built from communities. Without healthy communities, you lose good employees, clients, consumers, and advocates. To build a strong business, then, you must also build a strong community alongside it. In How to Change the World, David Bornstein addresses this concept of social entrepreneurship by stating:

    Social entrepreneurship usually starts with a new organization that becomes a kind of organizing force, like a magnet or a hub. It pulls together people who figure out how to actually make an idea real. …

    In fact, entrepreneurs are generally motivated by the desire to build something. What has happened, though, in recent history — meaning the last couple hundred years prior to the last twenty years — is that the easiest thing for them to build has been a business. That’s because, going back a long time ago, the government or the church or the crown used to monopolize and control everything socially. So that’s the first misconception — that entrepreneurs seek personal wealth.

    And socially, or sociologically, giving back to the community improves our overall quality of life…and quality of life can never be emphasized enough. Good living is what it’s all about, after all. Gladwell brings us back to the importance of community’s impact on the success of the individual:

    The lesson here is simple. But it is striking how often it is overlooked. We are so caught in the myths of the best and the brightest and the self-made that we think outliers spring naturally from the earth. … To build a better world we need to replace the patchwork of lucky breaks and arbitrary advantages that today determine success … with a society that provides opportunities for all.

    The world could be so much richer than the world we have settled for.

    Building. Opportunities. For you AND me. A richer world for all of us. … This is why I do what I do. This is what I’m working towards.

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