Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Entrepreneurial Spirit

I have heard people say lately, "I won't do anything that causes anyone to lose their job." The classic example is not using the self-checkout lane at Wal-mart because a cashier loses their job.

This will kill America. If it is our vow to fight progress in the name of jobs, we will lose our place in the world even faster. As a young student, I don't remember being encouraged to create my own way. Join a corporation. As technology progresses, we must use it to become more and more productive. It is like saying, "I won't download movies on pay per view because it will put the video store out of business." I'll keep using VHS tapes because somebody must still make them. I don't want to put them out of a job. The video store better be thinking ahead of the game.

As the world gets smaller, it does get tougher to stay ahead. That is why we better make it a priority and the idea of not progressing so no one loses a job... We need to get these people out of Wal-mart, working for fairly low pay and benefits, give them some creativity and gumption and get our economy fired back up. I wonder if it would fire up our students if they felt like they might have a chance to have a job that is their own, rather than looking at little to nothing to do.

4 comments:

Brian said...

For clarification, Wal-mart has gotten to where it is by jumping on every opportunity they get. They have used technology heavily to their advantage. They have grown faster than other stores for a reason. For those people who work in companies like this, I would do two things: Learn as much as you can about how the company takes advantage of opportunities and get to know as many people as you possibly can. This may put you in a position to become an entrepreneur.

Mike Clawson said...

Replace the word "opportunity" in yoru first sentence with "smaller competitors" and you'd have it about right. ;)

You might find the documentary "Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price" interesting. Wal-Mart is certainly innovative and opportunistic, but then again, so were the Nazis. It doesn't make either of them any less evil.

Though I confess, I have still been known to shop there on (rare) occasion. Sometimes one is forced to choose between the lesser of several evils.

-Mike

Brian said...

I have seen the documentary and perhaps what needs to happen is what the unions did. They realized unless they combined forces to be bigger than the corporation, they would be taken advantage of. So for now, perhaps the greed of the smaller competitors still outweighs the oppression.

I know you winked but comparing Wal-mart execs to Nazis lessens the appropriate feelings we should have for the Nazis. I've heard Nazi bantered around too freely these days.

Mike Clawson said...

To be honest, when I look at what happens in some of those sweatshops, I'm not entirely sure it's not a legitimate comparison.

-Mike