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Legacy and Narcissism by Anthony Bradley

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I believe that: The whole world of making products, providing services, buying and selling, building companies, establishing relationships of trade—marketplaces filled with businesses and their customers—can be a vibrant expression of what it means to be human in God’swonderful creation.

At the same time, given the fractured state of this world, our economic lives are often a source of heartbreak: when poverty overwhelms us; when we cannot find work, or make payroll; when our businesses fail, or governments make it hard to do business; or, when we slavishly devote ourselves to the hunt of money and discover at the end of our pursuit that all we have does not matter.

And yet, part of the good news that crested over the horizon at Easter is that alsothis vital but broken part of our lives is a theatre of hope: despite the evil and suffering that can make human life a misery, the original promise of business activity and market relationships is being redeemed, and we can work with courage, lead with love, and expect our efforts to bear fruit of very long-lasting value.

These are the broadest contours of what I believe we can affirm about business and markets, given the story that the Bible tells us about the world.

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It seems to me that they should. “Economic freedom” can be a legitimate good without being an ultimate good. It should be something we care about and work toward (in proportion to our gifts and calling) even if it, in and of itself, it will save no one in the ultimate sense (in the same way that we should care about well-functioning Fire Stations even though they cannot prevent people from the flames of hell).

 

By definition, just about every great idea resonates early with those that have better radar than those that don’t. The skill, then, is to expose yourself often enough, learn enough and fail enough that you get to say wow before the competition does.

In his book Money Ball, Michael Lewis wrote about how virtually every single scout and manager in baseball was wrong about what makes a great baseball player. They had the wrong radar, the wrong wow. When statistics taught a few teams what the real wow was, the balance of power shifted.

By definition, just about every great idea resonates early with those that have better radar than those that don’t. The skill, then, is to expose yourself often enough, learn enough and fail enough that you get to say wow before the competition does.

From Seth Godin