Ron Manners, former Chairman of Croesus Mining and De Grey Mining, and The Australian Mining Hall of Fame:
“Ayn Rand’s writings are of great benefit to individuals in the world of business. Her code of ethics contains the principles that lead to commercial success, and enables us to see a commercial enterprise as a noble endeavour.”
The late Richard Pratt, former Chairman of Visy Industries, and once Australia's fourth-richest man:
"I have always been inspired by Ayn Rand's writing. At her best she celebrates the virtues of hard work, persistence and never losing sight of your goal. Her ethical framework is one in which commercial enterprise is seen as a very worthwhile endeavour which is of great value to society as a whole."
Andrew Bernstein (www.andrewbernstein.net), author of The Capitalist Manifesto and Capitalism Unbound, in an op-ed published in The Australian:
"Its riveting story and timeless message supporting the producers of material values combine to ensure that Atlas Shrugged [Ayn Rand's novel, voted the second most influential book in America in a Library of Congress survey] will long be an inspiration to mankind's most productive individuals."
Alan Greenspan, former chairman of the Federal Reserve:
‘Ayn Rand was instrumental in significantly broadening the scope of my thinking and was clearly a major contributor to my intellectual development, for which I remain profoundly grateful to this day.’
Mark Rothstein, founder of Tri-Star Financial Services in Southern California, a television and radio commentator, and one of America’s top financial planners:
“No question reading Atlas Shrugged is the key factor for my success. It showed me that creating wealth is a moral virtue, as well as a practical necessity.”
Wayne Fortun, CEO of HutchinsonTechnology, a computer hardware manufacturing company listed on the NASDAQ, commenting on an executive training program based on Ayn Rand's philosophy, Objectivism:
“I saw true excitement on the part of the various attendees. It was then [during the segment of the Objectivist virtues] that they begun to see how it all comes together, and what the philosophic ideas mean to their actions. They were saying ‘now I see why it’s so important – now I know what I want to do next.’” And “I have had people say to me that this has changed their lives personally. They tell me that they now look at their home life, their life in the community, from a very different perspective – and that the course has done far more than improve their skills for functioning at HTI. It has improved their ability to deal with the world.” 12
Prad Somaiya, Sydney financial controller:
"Ayn Rand’s ideas inspired me to reach for the best within myself, and that is the secret to my ongoing success.”
Jason Monaghan, Sydney lawyer and publishing manager:
"Most fundamentally in terms of my work, Ayn Rand I believe demonstrated, more so than any economist, the value of capitalism and of businesses and the fact that commercial undertakings can be noble, even heroic.
"Finally on more of a psychological level, Ayn Rand’s rational philosophy, her great inspiring fictional heroes, and her sense of a benevolent universe - these are all ideas that have helped sustain for me a positive, enthusiastic attitude to my work, to my life and to everything I do.”
Dr Harry Binswanger, former lecturer in philosophy at the City University of New York, and now professor of philosophy at the Objectivist Academic Center of the Ayn Rand Institute:
"In future ages, historians will teach that the science of philosophy began with Plato, was set on the right foundation by Aristotle, and then - after a long period of stagnation and darkness - was built into a towering edifice by Ayn Rand." 13
Peter Schwartz, former editor of The Intellectual Activist:
“Ayn Rand was man's great idealiser. Her fictional heroes were the personification of man at his best, and she demonstrates how each of us can realise the very best within him." 14
Dr Michael Berliner, former executive director of the Ayn Rand Institute:
"When I discovered The Fountainhead [Ayn Rand's first successful novel, made into a movie starring Gary Cooper] as a college sophomore, it hit me like a thunderbolt, showing me in just one fictional character what a human being could and ought to be." 15