Greed is good
MAybe one of the reasons you are not rich—or richer—is because you are not greedy or greedy enough. “Greed” has gotten a bad reputation, in part because people like their ideas exceedingly simple, so they do not have to think too much. “Ambition” is good; “greed” is not.
Historically, both words meant almost the same, with “greed ” in Old English, Old Saxon, and Old Norse meaning “voracious, hungry, eager to obtain” especially wealth, power, or food. Ambition in Old French meant “a striving for favor, courting, flattery; a desire for honor, thirst for popularity.” The word is derived from the Latin ambitionem (nominative ambitio), which meant “a going around” particularly for politicians to solicit votes.
Greed for wealth bad: ambition for popularity good.
We are told by the Catholic Church that St. Thomas Aquinas wrote, “Greed is a sin against God.” Except he did not. Aquinas wrote in Latin. What Aquinas actually wrote was “Avaritia est peccatum contra Deum.” From “avaritia” comes the word “avarice,” which even today means “excessive or insatiable desire.”
In the Bible’s Luke 12:15, the modern translations all read something
Michael Douglas as Gordon Gekko: “The point is...greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right. Greed works. Greed clarifies. Greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge, has marked the upward surge in mankind.” Greed is not covetousness.
like “Guard against every kind of greed.” However, the older and literal translations like the King James, Douay-rheims, the Lamsa Bible, and the oldest—the Codex Sinaiticus— use the word “covetousness,” not greed, which means something different.
From the Old French in the mid13th century, “covet” means “to desire or wish for excessively.” Translated from the Original Greek, Luke 12:15 reads: “And he said to them: Take heed and beware of all covetousness.” All the “Seven Cardinal Sins” —pride, covetousness, lust, envy, gluttony, anger, and sloth—are about excessive behaviors done too often.
Is Manny Pacquiao greedy by being the first boxer to win world titles in eight weight divisions? Is Michael Phelps greedy by holding the all-time record for Olympic gold medals? Maybe Lance Armstrong does qualify for “covetousness” for winning the Tour de France seven consecutive times using drugs.
Greed, by the former definition of being hungry, makes you rich. Bill Gates is greedy. His objective was to have a computer on every desk and in every home running Windows. Now 76.56 percent of all computers do run Windows. Maybe Steve Jobs was “ambitious.” His mission statement for Apple in 1980 was: “To make a contribution to the world.”
Elon Musk: “To accelerate sustainable energy by bringing massmarket electric cars to market as soon as possible.” Asia’s richest man, Reliance Power’s Mukesh Ambani: “To consistently enhance our competitiveness and deliver profitable
growth.” Jeff Bezos: “To build a place where people can come to find and discover anything they might want to buy online.”
Amancio Ortega of ZAR A apparel: “Give customers what they want, and get it to them faster than anyone else.” Walmart Inc.’s corporate vision is, “Be THE destination for customers to save money, no matter how they want to shop.” American fastfood restaurant Subway: “Be the #1 Quick Service Restaurant franchise in the world.”
Read again. “As soon as possible.” “Discover anything they might want to buy.” “Be THE destination.” “Be the #1.” “Deliver profitable growth.”
“Faster than anyone else.” Listen to all those greedy people that want as much of the pie as they can work for. They are also rich.
Warren Buffett once said that it is wise for investors to be “greedy when others are fearful,” and that is particularly true when others are fearful of being greedy.
Wall Street (1987)—Michael Douglas as Gordon Gekko: “The point is…greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right. Greed works. Greed clarifies. Greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge, has marked the upward surge in mankind.” Greed is not covetousness.