Product Description
A collection of essays to help today's businessman understand the crucial role of philosophy in free trade, free markets, health care and business ethics. The book includes a title essay by Leonard Peikoff and two essays by Ayn Rand never before published in book form:"The Money-Making Personality" and "An Answer for Businessmen." Twelve additional essays by Leonard Peikoff and other contributors are included. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (20)

Not for stakeholders.
Unlike other books I have recently read by Peter F. Drucker and Kenneth and William Hopper, for example, the ethics necessary for the establishment of a business and with which to develop the necessary management, is based on rational-egoism and not upon the ethics of Puritan Christianity and pragmatism as a counter to the threat of aggression from members of society who consider that the fruits of one's business are as much theirs, as stakeholders, as they are to the owner/s of the business/es.

Such an ethics is so pervasive in B-Schools in Europe and America, that an MBA is essentially credentialism in state propaganda. In fact, B-Schools in Europe (EU) are now very popular with aspiring state administrators and politicians from America because of the EU's more entrenched social policies.

The result of this is that, any business person and/or manager is now an enemy of the state if he or she does not sacrifice themselves to stakeholder demands. One notable victim of this attack on business and management has been Lord Conrad Black who has had to suffer imprisonment and vilification because he did not sacrifice his interests to those of his shareholders who could have sold their shares at any time, or bought Conrad Black out, and run the company as they saw fit. However, like Michael Milkin, the shareholders did not have the skills with which to make themselves the money that Conrad Black was already making for them. This outcome for Conrad Black, is a reflection of the law as it currently stands vis-a-vis the legislation of Prop 211 which failed to get passed, but amounted to the same thing in practice.

Such an attack on business and its owners is destroying the west's ability to compete in the global markets on account of the sheer hampering effect that such policies have on business performance. Furthermore, no one in their right mind would consider establishing a business in the current business climate. Which means that, Youngstown, Ohio will have to get used to living off the earnings of pole-dancers.

Excellent compilation of philosophical/economic thought
An excellent alternative to the nonsense offered by liberals and conservatives (and moderates, and socialists, and greens, and reds, and libertarians for that matter).Among the highlights are Harry Binswanger's excellent "'Buy American' is Un-American," along with articles addressing such perennially-hot issues as immigration, socialized medicine, etc.Great book.Don't miss it!

A Book That Is An Accolade toEfficacious Businessmen
A productive modern businessman at his most efficacious should consciously hold as much pride for organizing his sphere of business as for the profits he earns as a result of that organization.Should he ever observe an intellectual's insistence that unregulated business development is the cause for economic ills--e.g., the unfairness of using private information about the market to make profits, when competitors cannot thus prosper since they lack this information. . .or the intellectual's insistence that foreign competition is bad for the Americaneconomy . . .or the insistence that any motive for the businessman's activity other than his delight in production and in the self-serving use of his wealth, Why Businessmen Need Philosophy will both inspire the listener and galvanize him to follow the right political and economic direction.

The book is also valuable to an honest, reality focused intellectual (even if he has grasped the essential truths of Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal, which contains Rand's articles about basic economic issues).Why Businessmen Need Philosophy offers the truth about some technical, "abstruse" business methods, using historic examples to make them clear.(Several such methods are not covered in CUI.)

The style of the book's authors is simple and straightforward, which makes their articles accessible to every literate reader.

Why Businessmen Need Philosophy is an excellent companion work to CUI, because it applies economic principles in the latter to some highly specialized areas of the business world.If you read one article in this collection, read any of "Why Businessmen Need Philosophy" by Leonard Peikoff, "Wall Street Under Siege" by Richard Salsman, "'Buy American' is Un-American" by Harry Binswanger, "The Philosophical Origins of Antitrust" by John Ridpath, and "Antitrust 'Returns' With a Vengeance" by Richard Salsman--a suggestion based on the standards of lucidity, excellent grammar, and emotional impact.

Businessmen Need Philosophy but Don't Know It
Business people find themselves under continual assault from government regulations, threats of lawsuits and under-appreciation of their positive role.The media, activists, politicians and even many religious officials cling to the cliché of business people as greedy, selfish or operating at the expense of others.The positive virtues of business people-self-sufficiency, responsibility and investment in the future--often are ignored by those who see business people as exploiters, cash cows for the government, or guinea pigs for government social policies.

Those suffering under the weight of such attacks will find encouragement and articulate arguments on their behalf in Why Businessmen Need Philosophy, a book-collection of essays that champions the free market and individual rights.Published by the Ayn Rand Institute, a free market and individualism advocacy group, the book lays a solid foundation of reasoned argument of how business people in a free economy exemplify the positive principles on which this country was founded.

"Some critics point to the homeless and blame their poverty on greedy private businessmen who exploit the public.Others, such as [economist] John Kenneth Galbraith, say that American are too affluent and too materialistic, and blame greedy private businessmen...," says philosopher and commentator Leonard Peikoff, who forcefully argues against this negative attitude."Who are the most denounced and vilified men in the country?You are-you, the businessmen."

The book is an exuberant, enthusiastic reaffirmation of the business person as providing the moral and economic foundation to the country. It provides a spirited defense of small and large business, argues the necessity of a foundation of honesty and fair dealing as growing from a free market economy and states the philosophical basis of why no one has a right to take the earnings of another.

The book argues against the welfare state that relies on the false premise that the desire for another's property creates a right to take it."The (American) system guarantees you the chance to work for what you want-not to be given it without effort by somebody else," Peikoff says. "We are seeing a total abandonment by the intellectuals and the politicians of the moral principles on which the U.S. was founded.The rule now is for politicians to ignore and violate men's actual rights, while arguing about a whole list of rights never dreamed of in this country's founding documents-rights...."

For those weary of overflowing government regulations and laws dictating their professional lives and businesses, and for those working people who need reaffirmation of their vital role in society, this book serves them well.

Awesome reality check
This book does a terrific job at showing how one's philosophy will impact one's success (or failure) in business.It also reminds readers that the long term cannot be ignored, or one will fail in the long term. ... Read more