The Men Who Built America Episode 2: The True Mission of an Entrepreneur
- Vicent Nemeyimana
- May 13, 2018
- Innovation + Entrepreneurship
In part one of this #MenWhoBuiltAmerica, I specifically said that there was nothing to admire about men who had conspired to make money at the expense of life and blood of everyone. As the documentary reveals, Andrew Carnegie, JP Morgan, and John D. Rockefeller had cruel hearts as money itself, and all they cared about was greatness irrespective of who was hurt along the way. And I said, that was not something admirable and no entrepreneur of our days should be a fool to their extent and build empires in the same way they did!
But not Henry Ford!
Part 2 of this #MenWhoBuiltAmerica covers the details of Henry Ford, the man who fought to become an entrepreneur (automobile FORD cars) but not necessarily to make profits and outcompete his forefathers but to bring the product to all. Henry Ford should inspire us all; the goal should never be about making money and profits but making positive change.
And where do we lie? Do we execute our entrepreneurship start-ups with our clients and their benefits in mind or our own gains?
Pause; Death and a rich man!
For Bible Based Inspirations of All Times, Visit The Complete You Ministry
In the Bible (Luke 12:16-21), a story is told of a fool who, after harvesting a lot and enlarging his stores for wealthy and property, thought to himself; “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.” (verse 19). And amidst his pleasure and happiness and hope for unending future, Jesus interrupts; ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’
John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, and JP Morgan never thought of a possible horrible future for themselves as long as they still had money, monopolized industries, and had strength to fight the bloody wars of businesses, until one of their closest allies just died; JP Morgan died! It is then that these guys realized that there is or was more to life than just money and property.
And so, John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie began their journeys of philanthropy; living lives beyond themselves!
Generally, we may not need to be rude and understand their perspective. They started off their adventures in businesses in times of barbarism. Seriously, there were no economic reforms, improved social justice policies, and maybe public health scope had not expanded into what it is now. And so, they took advantage of the situation and mined wealth at the expense of others. And the fact that the death of one of these titans impacted them and changed their hearts and perspective, we can painstakingly believe they too were humans! If they had risen up in times like ours, maybe they would deal with the poor and weak so differently.
But not so fast!
To predict what they would still be and do in our times, let us consider entrepreneurs and their corporations or businesses in our 21st century. To be exact, we have not changed enough; companies and businesses still pay peanuts, workers still work in dangerous occupations and uninsured, and the gap between the rich and poor has gone nowhere just as it was in Rockefeller, Morgan, and Carnegie’s times.
Money still influences politics and religion. Our leaders are bought up leaders; they support policies that favor the rich corporations and companies and deny rights and justice to the poor, the weak, the suffering on-ground workers in our industries and gardens and farms.
So, have we really changed? Maybe a little and in some countries, but there is still work to be done. Drawing from the life of Henry Ford, campaigns of Bryan and Roosevelt, and even from the titans (Rockefeller, Carnegie) after the death of their friend Morgan, we can design even much better policies that are inclusive and fair to everyone. We can build an economy that is driven by change, sharing, and improvement of people’s lives and not necessarily money, property, wealth, and interests. Can we really do this?
That is our call at #SacredEntrepreneurship, a branch of The Complete You Ministry. Shall you join us?
God bless you
