- a self-made steel magnate who spends 10 years battling to invent a metal superior to steel;
- a female railroad executive who defies public opinion to use the untried metal on a crucial new railway line;
- a prodigiously talented aristocrat, heir to a business dynasty, who gives up the two loves of his life to masquerade as a worthless playboy;
- a philosophy student who turns to high seas piracy in the name of his greatest value, justice;
- a once-in-a-century genius who walks away from an amazing invention, leaving it to rust in an abandoned factory;
- and a mysterious destroyer who vows to stop the motor of the world.
But not only is Atlas Shrugged a riveting story with heroic deeds, it is also a life-changing experience. It presents the revolutionary ideas that business people need to feel deeply proud of their careers. Its characters embody the moral virtues that bring business people long-term success and happiness. Read more at Atlas Shrugged for Business.
Why is it that business owners and their staff need to feel deeply proud of their careers?
"Pride is a much more powerful motivator [than money] — just look at the employees of extraordinary organizations such as Southwest Airlines, Microsoft, or the U.S. Marines. Pride drives their exceptional service, their continued innovation, their commitment to the organization." - Jon Katzenbach, author of Why Pride Matters More Than Money
"You’ve got to do everything you can to make your employees proud to work for you and proud of what they’re doing. They need to sense the importance of what they’re doing."
- Bill Spooner, CIO of Sharp HealthCare
Deep pride in a venture produces powerful motivation, the ability to dedicate oneself to business goals.
To have deep pride in a venture we must be able to view its purpose as noble, as a force for good in the world.
But how can your staff see your business in this light when businessmen are so often portrayed as capitalist exploiters of workers and customers? When business is said to destroy the environment? When in every second movie, the crook is a businessman? When banks and financiers are blamed for the current economic crisis and the role of the U.S. government and the U.S. Federal Reserve in creating it is ignored?
How can your staff develop this motivational pride in a business whose overriding purpose is to make profit, when they've heard from their earliest days 'the love of money is the root of all evil', and 'it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of the Lord'?
How can your staff feel proud of your business when selflessness is held up as the moral ideal, but business is so obviously about self-interest?
These questions have been eloquently answered by the greatest defender of the business world, and author of Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand, whose ideas are taught in more than 60 universities in America. Read more at Atlas Shrugged for Business.