American Imperative

American Imperative

Boy, it’s great to be an American. I take special pride in the fact that over the last century and a half America has taken the lead in the development of a good, progressing society. The world clearly looks at America as the cause of, as well as the solution to, many of the problems on this planet. We Americas are responsible! The concept of entrepreneurship has always been a big part of realizing America's greatest successes and spiriting our greatest developments whether they are manifestations of material, the organization or the intellect.

The essence of entrepreneurship permeates American culture. America clearly produces the purest strains of entrepreneurship's essence. What a laboratory America has been for students of entrepreneurship over the last several centuries, as we have progressively dominated in attracting the leaders and change agents in every field of endeavor. In particular, the USA has clearly emerged as the world leader in economic, organizational, technological and managerial aspects of entrepreneurship. Americans lead in everything about entrepreneurship, its philosophy, theory and application. America has a knack for adapting to, inventing, coping quickly and improving upon the greatest number and kinds of entrepreneurial imaginings and behaviors. America operates at the cutting edge of pure innovation in products, services, organizations and the arts. We also lead in the pursuit of productivity increases and creative ideas in general, whether in the private or public sectors. American entrepreneurship is redefining the truth of civilization more than any other ideology, because entrepreneurs think and work the hardest. Therefore, American entrepreneurs are advancing the quality of life and providing hope and opportunity to a more diverse configuration of citizens in America than anyplace else in the world. Actually, I’m mimicking President Clinton’s economic addresses of the late 90's. We can all learn much from his economic ranting. He was appropriately the most prominent of those outspoken American politicians, economists, sociologists and other citizens who like to boast that the American economic system is simply the most virile and powerful incubator for inspirational and visionary economic behavior in the world.

But, what is so special about "American entrepreneurial" behavior? The American form of entrepreneurship is indeed an illusive peculiarity of the already ill-defined construct. American entrepreneurship does have some very distinctive tracers, consistencies and systematic regularities that the serious student must appreciate. But I caution even the most serious student; the task is daunting! The study of the American entrepreneur occurs in a mist-like environment. As you read about my views on American entrepreneurship, be prepared for complex ideas and concepts to appear, disappear and re-materialize in different ways. Face the fact that some confusion and discomfort is always part of learning about metaphysical things in profoundly infinite systems. Accept a measure of frustration on your journey to understand the American brand of entrepreneurship and its distinctive character. No matter how rigorous I try to be, recognize that you must above all imagine the philosophical and metaphysical reality inherent in humanity to imagine and articulate its future from a free perspective such as America’s. The extreme American system may produce the purest forms of entrepreneurship and social progress, but they are nevertheless highly abstract; so, developing a feel is vital. There are few concrete concepts relating to the social, economic, political and cultural phenomena with which we must deal. Accept vagueness and abstraction as friends and develop a sense of the "heart" and “soul” of the American system.

Note that I’m talking about the frailty of language. Language’s inadequacy to capture all history, emotion, intention and so forth contributes to our formation of mental models, which can aid in, as well as prevent us from seeing important underlying realities. Interpretation, assumption and guess happen within each of us all the time as we communicate and share. That’s life. But we must also deal with the abstraction at a higher level, as people of virtue. Unchecked language imprecision thus produces foundational problems for the systems thinker that can only be solved by better mastering language. For instance, let’s just wrestle with one term that has been tossed around loosely for centuries, "market economy." Market economy is perhaps the most capriciously used term to describe the American economic system, particularly since the fall of the iron curtain. “Market economy” is a highly abstract concept, more so for instance than “capitalism” or “free markets,” which are similarly used to connote America’s larger system. The concept “market economy” connotes an economy driven by the markets, by the special powers inherent in the market forces themselves (invisible hands). Underlying the concept is the fact that the combined metaphysical forces in the market have the capacity to define progress, more than a concrete plan or any other form of centralized management (e.g., government, elite minds or corporate structures). But, market permutations (people, places, attitudes and so forth) are as infinite and different as snowflakes. Which do we choose from to describe a place like America when we hear the word? Therein is the rub. Just what do we really mean by market economy? If we cannot clarify the base concept, then how do we go to higher levels, such as debating optimal or even desirable market economy? Furthermore, how do we imagine the dimensions of the options without becoming capricious in the use of the term ourselves? Alas, even the best of us fall prey to the fuzziness and abstraction of the topic, and just accept the concept for what its worth. For instance, Russell Ackoff, at the height of recent American exaltation claimed, "all market economies are not successful, but all successful economies are market economies" (Ackoff, 1994, see p 12). He never really defines what a market economy is, rather he assumes in today's world that the concept is self-evident, identifiable, and recognizable (I presume he means the Big Economic 8 and a few others who are emerging globally).

In Chapter 4, I address how "systems thinking" discourages undisciplined use of language such as the lumping together of nations conceptually as "market economies", and I show the nuances of America’s difference. I also stress that the serious student of American entrepreneurship strives to be more precise and focused when conceptualizing America’s uniqueness, and imagining it, vis-à-vis the known set of global economies. I try to wordsmith concepts to heighten the imagery. For instance, of particular concern to me throughout this book is whether the American market economy is too often assumed to not be that unique, especially with respect to nurturing entrepreneurs (i.e., are we really that special?). I address the necessity to learn about language, as civilization evolves and integrates more subtle and abstract economic concepts, expanding mainstream societies and escalating emerging nations and the so-called third-world. Cutting-edge managers (entrepreneurs) simply must intensify their effort to separate systems from each other conceptually (i.e., see new forms of specialization and coordination) to keep progress peaceful and righteous. I spend a lot of time in Chapter 4 dealing with philosophical and social nuance in an effort to help you to systematically objectify the dimensions of the American market system in which the most creative and visionary entrepreneurs grow. I also emphasize in Chapter 4 the intellectual, emotional and metaphysical subjectivity that accompanies thinking systematically about capital, democratic organization and market economies, which are so entangled with the concept of freedom. America’s recipe for mixing these concepts results in a very special spiritual and sensory organization that fosters the “American Dream.”

I personally believe that America's special approach to freedom is the source of a mystical energy seen nowhere else in the world. Hegel (circa 1816) posited that the essence of the spirit is freedom, and I feel that the essence of freedom resides in America. This mysterious force arises from and is the basis for extreme forms of social tolerance and diversity, which further manifest economic changes, discontinuities and variations that generally super-motivate participants within America’s organizations and communities. Everyone is allowed to be different in America, and they are. Diversity prevails because we welcome all willing immigrants to forget the past and seek a new future. Even if a newcomer has been socialized differently, when they come to this land, they embrace nature and society differently; and quickly inculcate the gift of great freedom it bestows collectively. This competitive and benevolent system, allows Americans, at record pace, to create new and subtle man/nature interactions across this great land that change the world. "American Entrepreneurship" is simply different, unique and special. There is an undeniable common American pattern, and I do try to extract and highlight the essence of what I call “Ameripreneurship” throughout this book.

My international travels and experience have purified my vision and sense of the American entrepreneur’s spiritual role in today's economic world. A lot is expected of us Americans as world economic and political leaders. We have an obligation to be the best we can, not a sham. We must continue to evolve and get better; otherwise, the other more creative pedigrees of managers in the world will leap-frog the random meander of the American system. That threat is what Niasbett’s “Global Paradox” explicitly identifies. America’s dominance must thus ultimately be built on entrepreneurship.

The paradox is most readily accepted from a systems perspective. A systems perspective, one example of which I offer, is imperative to challenging and encouraging the intellect to appreciate the dynamics of interrelationships within the larger economic environment and within more global environments of humans that quickly, and sometimes automatically, identify and benchmark the real leaders in progressive thought and action, from more remotely decentralized venues. In the modern information era, leadership thus can be fleeting. Over longer time spans, leadership can, and must vacillate among, wiser, more prudent nations regions and individual entrepreneurs who earn it. Although the competitive advantage currently tends to reside in the USA, it does not have to stay that way. I propose that the only way it will continue to circulate back to America is if we maintain our extreme conditions of liberty and tolerance, because these qualities underlie “good systems” that strive to constantly learn. The more openness and flexibility in these systems, the better the system seems to succeed. I will build heavily on open systems theory to organize the complexities associated with the American brand of freedom and to regularly justify my value judgments about its superiority, and develop suggestions on how to keep it that way.

I will try, and try, to get you to agree that the American brand of entrepreneurship clearly provides good world leadership for socio-economic behavior, because it is the least prone to defensiveness and bias (even as I give consideration to the counter arguments that it is American system that is the most biased). At the edge, American behaviors are most controversial, as it should be in a nation where social participants naturally develop and interfere with and often reshuffle the grand contradictions of life. Have you ever asked why we Americans bungi-jump, buy computer pets, strangely dye our hair and irrationally demand toys like “Tickle Me Elmo?” The market behavior of Americans seems so capricious and just plain stupid at times. In fact, America’s economic and emotional tsunamis can become so extreme that it is intimidating and overpowering to everyone around it, which surely makes America ostentatious, conspicuous and inherently envied. Furthermore, the passion rises as we imperialistically drag a jealous, reluctant and resentful mankind along sometimes kicking and screaming. Being known as the biggest bullies, top wasters, greatest resource exploiters and economic elitists, as the world enters what many predict will be a new Malthusian era, doesn’t help our popularity either. Yet, it is clear to me that as every new era faces its own threats to the man/nature relationship, the freest thinking people of any era, like those in America now, will be charged to take the entrepreneurial lead. Since we were thrown out of the Garden of Eden, man’s economic systems have always been challenged by the natural forces of degradation that are as often competitive and hostile as they are benevolent and predictable. Through the epochs, man’s expectations march higher being led by the next society to push the innovative envelope, and it’s America’s turn to lead now. As a passionately loyal American, I summarize my position by reiterating Hegel’s views on America’s great possibilities. Two centuries ago, he saw a virtue in America that would make it the most dynamic and progressing system in the world for a long time to come. He believed that America had been metaphysically positioned to lead mankind in economic, political and social progress, and to confront the dark side. Hegel felt that American entrepreneurship was invariably linked to man’s best future as its free-thinking would cut the edge of ignorance and irrationality, leading to modern economic development vis-à-vis the evolving natural, social, ethical and economic world. I know he was right. You're on social, political and economic center-stage with the American entrepreneur. Watch the performance unfold in Chapter 4.