Can everyone be wealthy?

Can everyone be wealthy?

A Context of Wealth

The most unfortunate situation is that our very business organization works against us. Modern business today is based on some very old agreements and some very old misunderstandings of the process of creating wealth.

What is a context exactly? Perhaps this working definition will serve us best “It's what allows us to define our expectations, behaviors, roles and emotions”. For example, we know how to behave at church, at a football game, a golf game and at work. But for fun, what would happen if we all behaved like we were at a football game at church, or a golf game? Imagine it for a second… everyone cheering for the pastor or the organist. Or perhaps everyone loudly cheering their favorite golfer. Now we can see that the context sets our expectations, behavior, roles and emotions.

The Context of Today's Business Is Poverty

The modern context of business is based on a premise of “owners take all the risk, therefore should get all the rewards”. While no one can argue with this, because it's generally true, this business context works against the very nature of wealth, which is trading. Consider that in business no sale or trade is ever made unless it's of value to everyone in the exchange. Everyone has to get something or there's no deal. A great business is one that understands the importance of being valuable to their prospects.

For employees, the context of business is hierarchy. This hierarchy tells them how to behave, what to expect, and how to react for everything. And the 'best' part; hierarchy is consistent from one business to the next. Hierarchy even dictates how we as leaders are expected to respond and relate to our employees.

Poverty for employees who don't receive a path to wealth unless they become owners and take risks they can't afford.

Poverty for owners, because they are cheated by a system that rewards employees who destroy the chance at wealth.

Poverty for customers who are cheated out of a company that truly cares about them as individuals.

This context of hierarchy limits freedom and choice, but it provides something extremely valuable in return - stability. One of the worst things to have in a business you're leading is unpredictability. Unpredictability limits action because you can't reproduce success or avoid failure. This is why the context of hierarchy is critical and must be kept intact for today's modern enterprise.

But stability is not wealth - wealth is growth

Stability is preservation of wealth, provided you already have wealth to preserve. Employees in today's modern business have no such wealth and as such, have no opportunities for growing the wealth of the business. The context of trading creates wealth because it creates growth. To re-create the context of business is the challenge for today's savvy business leader.

Practical examples abound in the red box quotes throughout this document. What they tell us is about managers and leaders who have lucked upon some ...