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Suspicions of Big Business, Part II

August 13th, 2006 | 4 min read

By Matthew Lee Anderson

So last week I wrote that the American (or Western) big business, sell-everything-and-work-80-hours-a-week-for-success culture is seriously flawed. Folks sacrifice their families and relationships for the sake of big money and fame as top-of-the-pile ladder-climbers. The solution to this is not to create more government sanctions because the government will ultimately become a big business in which to succeed it will be necessary to work the most hours, shmooze with the most people and so on. Instead, the remedy is for us to properly understand the nature of work and its place in our lives as well as find motivationin the most important things, namely family and friends.

So how did we come to the place where large numbers of us sacrifice relationships for success? Extreme individualism is a product of modernity with a long story to tell, which I won't go into here. (It definitely has something to do with Descartes

.) However, at the very heart of the matter resides the oft tacit belief that from the money, power, and honor that come one earns from triumph in business will spring happiness. A great mistake here would be to overreact to this and label the man foolish who would subscribe to such a ridiculous proposition. Let me tell you from experience, to the one with the achievement-driven personality type conquest in business is a sweet Siren song.

Accomplishment in business requires excellence in a number of different areas. The best businessman is a deeply disciplined person who has exceptional personal skills, has a grand vision, and leads people well. To become this sort of person, one must cultivate all four Classical Virtues (Wisdom, Moderation, Courage and Justice). Though the motivation might be wrong, the best corporate officers end up with highly developed character.

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Matthew Lee Anderson

Matthew Lee Anderson is an Associate Professor of Ethics and Theology in Baylor University's Honors College. He has a D.Phil. in Christian Ethics from Oxford University, and is a Perpetual Member of Biola University's Torrey Honors College. In 2005, he founded Mere Orthodoxy.