Ayn Rand and Business

Ayn Rand and Business

Donna Greiner and Theodore KinniTexereISBN: 1587990725£14.99

Even 20 years after her death, Ayn Rand exerts a powerful influence on the business world – especially in the USA. This short book provides a brief biography of Rand and a summary of her views.

Ayn Rand was a Russian emigree, born to a prosperous family (called Rosenbaum) in St Petersburg in 1905. In 1917, the family's pharmacy business was seized by the Red Army and she fled to the USA, where she adopted the name Rand(after her Remington-Rand typewriter). She then became an author – in Hollywood and later New York – of two successful novels, Atlas Shruggedand The Fountainhead.

However, although she thought of herself as author – and philosopher– it is her philosophy known as "objectivism" that has had the most lasting impact. She influenced such as Alan Greenspan, chairman of the US Federal Reserve, and Larry Ellison, at Oracle. The philosophy advocates individual rights and identifies reason as the supreme intellectual attribute. Rand firmly believed that government should only provide protection for the rights of individuals, and that it should not offer education, welfare or even try to manage the economy.

Here, Donna Greiner and Theodore Kinni seek to distill the essence of Objectivist ideas and relate them to managing a business. As a general introduction to the core principles of Objectivism, the authors are largely successful. They provide summaries of Objectivism's views on metaphysics(objective reality), epistemology (reason), ethics (self-interest), politics(capitalism), and esthetics (romantic realism). They devote chapters to the core values of rationality, independence, integrity, honesty, justice,productiveness, and pride.

Some of the examples of entrepreneurs offered were clearly not influenced directly by Objectivism – though they might have subscribed to the underlying principles. The point drawn from the book is that where entrepreneurs adhere to Objectivist principles (knowingly or unknowingly), they increase the likelihood of achieving their goals. Where they stray into subjectivism,evasion, or appeals to force, the are much more likely to fail.

Rand believed that "a human being's highest value and responsibility is to his own life; the needs of the individual are more important than the needs of any collective society". Whether you agree with this view, this book is certainly different from the normal run of business books – well worth a read if it makes you think!