The Times They are A-Changin'

Continued success requires continued change.

Jon and I recently had a discussion regarding Yanis Varoukis. At one point he fired a "you're clearly a socialist at heart" at me and to which my immediate reply was "I plead guilty".

So, yes, this post will not convert one single person to a socialist viewpoint. The aim, rather, is to highlight the need for continuous reassessment of one's views on pretty much anything - whether you then change your views, or not. Socialism simply serves as a convenient example, here, of a contrarian view that many would not usually entertain.

The Great US of A

The USA must be the perfect example of why capitalism is clearly the best system. Just look at the economic success record of that country! Capitalism is the system that drives that economy. So, surely that must be the reason for its success?

Well, there are at least two questions:

(1) How is success defined?
(2) How is success achieved?

USA Wealth through Capitalism?

(1) Success-definition?

See this Wikipedia article:

"From the 1980s to the early 2010s, U.S. economic growth was not translating into higher median family incomes. Real GDP per household has typically increased since the year 2000, while real median income per household was below 1999 levels until 2016, indicating a trend of greater income inequality".

I.e., there are many 'bandit' companies and 'bandit' individuals there. So, yes, for the last 44 years, the USA's success has not translated into a better life for the vast majority of people there.

(2) How did USA achieve success?

Suffice to briefly note that if one's understanding of just two massively consequential factors, namely geography (climate, navigable rivers, topography, borders, neighbours, etc.) and history (fortuitous events over centuries and decades) is not good enough, or if you choose to wrongly argue those two influences away, then you may reach (perhaps incorrect) conclusions about those causes and effects.

A Counter-Example?

While the Nordic countries are often used as examples of successful countries with a strong socialistic bent, let's use another example (for a change), namely Slovenia where I spent some time in September (of 2024).

You may find books such Thomas Piketty's "Capital in the Twenty-First Century" useful, but if that book is too large a time-investment, then try something simpler such as prof. Ha-Joon Chan's "23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism".

What Can We Influence?

Other than through voting, most of us cannot change much at country-level or at global-level. So, then we may consider it 'cutesy' to have 'controversial' views on economic matters. I.e., we may think that certain types of opinions make us appear more 'interesting' just because it's 'different' and inconsequential. (Apologies for all the quotation marks.) Calling yourself a socialist may fit this scenario.

Or, one can try to perform deeper studies.

In business, though, being 'cutesy' gets you nowhere. Your views on how to achieve business success directly drive the eventual success levels. One must do better than just having an opinion. Continuous studies and re-assessments (i.e. change) are mandatory.

Business Success Approaches

There seems to be a hierarchy of size-of-'positive'-economic-impact: Ventures followed by Companies followed by Public Institutions.

Workers in these different types of entities, though, work under vastly different sets of rules and those sets of rules affect the quality and speed of decision-making. (Also see "Reforming Socialism" at 09:33 in the Slovenia-story in the YouTube link above.) Processes and ways of working influence success directly.

Hence we, for example, argue for more use of Ventures (as opposed to BAU, incremental improvements and Projects) to drive progress and success in corporate environments. Ventures typically do not form (or form enough) part of corporate South Africa's approach to growth and change. It must though. Ventures drive outperformance.

The use of Ventures is just one example though. Corporate leaders must continually reassess their views and the ways of working in their organisations.

In business, being too married to inferior sets of views bites you - and bites you hard.