“An economy that is more entrepreneurial, less managerial, would be less subject to the kind of distortions that occur when corporate managers’ compensation is tied to the short-term profit of distant shareholders. For most entrepreneurs, profit is at once a more capacious and a more concrete thing than this. It is a calculation in which the intrinsic satisfactions of work count.”

— Matthew B. Crawford, “The Case for Working With Your Hands
(NYT Magazine, 5.24.09)

3 Responses to “Quote of the day: Entrepreneurs’ own rewards”

  1. The economic meltdown is a terrible thing, and the resulting misery and unemployment will scar us for years if not decades. But one of the many good things that come out of an opportunity like this is the realization that things that sound too good to be true probably are, and bubbles are a lot of fun but certainly not worth the hangover.

    There is far more dignity in being an entrepreneur, or in working with your hands, than there is in creating complex derivative financial instruments that do not add any value or productive output to society.

  2. Hi Dan,
    The quote of the day from that fine tuned article from the Times Sunday Magazine caught my eye as well.

    The article reminds me of The Mind at Work: Valuing the intelligence of the American Worker by Mike Rose

    Don “the idea guy” Snyder recently published “100 Watts of Creativity” = great tool for uncovering ideas and working ones’ E.I.

    Best,

    David

  3. kirsti says:

    I am looking forward to reviewing this book and sharing it with my class on good work, mainly because it at last, begins to value forms of work so critical to our community economies and well being, but also validates the people who choose to work with their hands in this much hyped ‘new economy of knowledge workers.’