Why Entrepreneurship is the opposite of war
In light of recent times, I’ve been thinking about the most destructive activity on the planet — war.
War literally destroys.
War destroys buildings, infrastructure, food supplies and farms.
War destroys land, water systems and entire ecosystems.
War destroys people, it eliminates them from the world.
At the end of the day, war reduces what we collectively have. It makes life worse to the people experiencing it, it destroys the wealth that civilization has built.
I doubt many people in the world want to be involved in war, if any.
Those that want to go to war are far removed from the battlefield, and the losses very rarely include people they know or care about. That’s why it so easy to make the decision.
But for the people on the ground, on either side, how many can say this is what they truly want?
I doubt that many people exist who actually want to destroy things and people. Who want to inflict suffering upon the world.
Those that are inspired by war, are usually swayed by the need to protect what they have.
I believe in humanity’s good, and that we all would want a better world for ourselves and our loved ones, and even strangers we have never and will never meet.
What is a career path?
As a young, strapping graduate I was torn between career choices, having options towards engineering, medicine, finance.
I really just wanted to make the biggest positive impact on the world that I could (and still do).
I knew that would involve building, so I chose engineering. I thought this career path will give me the greatest set of skills from which I can build and create a better world.
I was almost right.
You see, since the 7 years since I left my corporate career path, there is one profession I have come to realise that is the exact opposite of warmonger — the pinnacle of peacemaking, or at least, it can be.
That path is Entrepreneurship.
Entrepreneurship, business or trade is the process by which one seeks to create and/or deliver solutions to a particular set of people, facing a certain kind of problem.
Between business and entrepreneurship some people like to draw a line. One can say entrepreneurs take risks and create things that didn’t exist before. They go from zero to one (as per Peter Thiel’s seminal book). Businessmen can grow or expand current businesses. They go from 1 to n.
However, for this essay I lump them together. They both are responsible for making available more goods and services to the public than previously existed.
They bring more solutions to problems. They alleviate more pain and thus make the world better!
When a businessman succeeds, the solutions he provides are beneficial to people’s lives and they give him money for it.
This is repeated across many industries, like food, clothing, services, etc. and serves to create a network of trade relationships and inter-dependencies between suppliers, manufacturers, distributors and retailers, and many other businesses services.
This is the crux of it all. The businessman creates more mutually beneficial relationships in the economy.
When we rely and trust each other for the various aspects of our lives that makes our lives better, we live more in harmony with each other.
We are less likely to cause a commotion, to fight over trivial things. We can have more things, better things and thus better lives. It is through this process of innovation and entrepreneurship that civilization gets built.
When we have strong networks of trade, we rely on each other. We have set up conditions of living such that destroying or alienating the other means our own quality of life suffers.
It’s like if you have two kids fighting. And you tell them, “Get along or nobody’s getting any ice cream!” Very quickly do they become thick as thieves, banding together for the common dream of delicious ice cream.
This is why the entrepreneur is the peacemaker.
Become a peacemaker
The entrepreneur builds trade relationships among people, and even more so today, among a global set of people.
When the world wants you to destroy and denigrate a group of humans, seek instead to do the opposite.
Try to serve a group of people. Make their lives better in whatever way you can. We have various needs and we all have special gifts that can serve to those needs.
See everyone’s pain and complaints as a to-do list. If you can tick 1 item off that list, and do it well, you’ll probably be what many would call a successful businessman.
I would call you a peacemaker.
An engineer of civilization.
A good human.
And I think, at the end of the day, that’s what we all want to be.
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Drop a comment if I sparked an idea in your head, I’d love to know more!
