In yesterday’s post I was obviously intrigued that some jobs reward people who are ruthless, i.e., who lack or ignore compassionate feelings for others. (I would skip the term “psychopath”, and obviously not everyone in those professions are that way.)
One reason I was so interested is I recently watched the History series The Men Who Built America. It portrays the ruthlessness of Cornelius Vanderbilt (railroads), John D. Rockefeller (oil), Andrew Carnegie (steel) and J. P. Morgan (electricity and finance) and how they transformed America after the Civil War. It also talks about Henry Ford’s new business model, which was to try to give his workers decent pay and working conditions — the start of the consumer economy? This video gives you the flavor of the series:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=ku4IYJBrChs
The series also showed the admiration some modern business leaders have for the old titans. They may have gone too far at times, but they knew how to win and they got things done. The series probably simplified history at times for the sake of the story, but it definitely caught my attention and got me out of my comfort zone.
Very good video.
I wish we could bask in our comfort zones. Hard to do with what goes on everywhere today.
We get the Wall Street Journal, and I glance at it in the morning as part of my stress-hardiness practice. 🙂
If we don’t do things the old way it could mean the end of civilisation as we know it.
I for one think this could be (but won’t necessarily be) a very good thing.
Could you be a bit more specific about the “old way?” How far back are you going?
i saw that too rummy. it was a marathon one weekend here so it flowed. i watched the whole thing.
fascinating.
such ruthless powerful men with blinders on. and all the philanthropy of carnegie later. i wonder if it helped his soul’s remorse in any way.
and yet we enjoy the fruits of their combined vision and money.
just such an immoral and sad way it all had to come about.
I watched it on Netflix DVDs, so it was one right after another for me too. It’s so much better than having to break the flow.
Carnegie, at least the way he was portrayed, was the most interesting character to me. Part of him didn’t have the stomach for the ruthlessness, so he hid out in Scotland and let Frick do the dirty work.
This was the first account I saw or read that showed how later Americans benefited from the ruthlessness. The workers at the time certainly didn’t!
ha! i meant i saw that too MONK! doubt if it showed in india!