Some years ago when I worked at the libertarian Cato Institute, we used to label any new hire who had not yet read “Atlas Shrugged” a “virgin.” Being conversant in Ayn Rand’s classic novel about the economic carnage caused by big government run amok was practically a job requirement. If only “Atlas” were required reading for every member of Congress and political appointee in the Obama administration. I’m confident that we’d get out of the current financial mess a lot faster.

Many of us who know Rand’s work have noticed that with each passing week, and with each successive bailout plan and economic-stimulus scheme out of Washington, our current politicians are committing the very acts of economic lunacy that “Atlas Shrugged” parodied in 1957, when this 1,000-page novel was first published and became an instant hit.

Rand, who had come to America from Soviet Russia with striking insights into totalitarianism and the destructiveness of socialism, was already a celebrity. The left, naturally, hated her. But as recently as 1991, a survey by the Library of Congress and the Book of the Month Club found that readers rated “Atlas” as the second-most influential book in their lives, behind only the Bible.

For the uninitiated, the moral of the story is simply this: Politicians invariably respond to crises — that in most cases they themselves created — by spawning new government programs, laws and regulations. These, in turn, generate more havoc and poverty, which inspires the politicians to create more programs . . . and the downward spiral repeats itself until the productive sectors of the economy collapse under the collective weight of taxes and other burdens imposed in the name of fairness, equality and do-goodism…

The current economic strategy [from Washington] is right out of “Atlas Shrugged”: The more incompetent you are in business, the more handouts the politicians will bestow on you. That’s the justification for the $2 trillion of subsidies doled out already to keep afloat distressed insurance companies, banks, Wall Street investment houses, and auto companies — while standing next in line for their share of the booty are real-estate developers, the steel industry, chemical companies, airlines, ethanol producers, construction firms and even catfish farmers. With each successive bailout to “calm the markets,” another trillion of national wealth is subsequently lost. Yet, as “Atlas” grimly foretold, we now treat the incompetent who wreck their companies as victims, while those resourceful business owners who manage to make a profit are portrayed as recipients of illegitimate “windfalls.”

Get the rest.

Seth has also created a presentation to accompany the book, and it’s available on SlideShare.

Watch the interview.  Read the book.  Rock your world.

And then check out Johnny Bunko, too.

If you’re not familiar with Seth, try the article as a start and then subscribe to the blog.  If you’re a really rabid fan, you’ll probably want the action figure.  I’m hoping to get one for Christmas.  Or something.

• Stupid, Ugly, Unlucky, and Rich by Richard St. John
• Good to Great by Jim Collins

Jim Collins took an empirical look at organizations to see what they did to become successful while Richard St. John conducted hundreds of interviews with successful people to determine what factors led to their success.  Both are highly recommended.

I’ve put together a document that attempts to relate the characteristics/lessons of these three books to identify common points (download a PDF).  

If I were forced to narrow it down to just two characteristics, I’d say 1) do what you do best (strengths) and 2) work really hard (persistence).

I’m curious to know what others think on this.  Are there any changes you’d make to the diagram?  What other “success” books have you read that could be added to the comparison?

Related posts:

Bunko Brunch Recap
Recommended Reading for Business Communication Students 

So when Dan Pink offered to send out free copies of the book to anyone willing to host a “DIY Bunko Breakfast”–an opportunity to read and discuss the book–I raised my hand: “sign me up!”

The books arrived and though I initially thought I’d give them to students, I chose to give them to colleagues instead.  It seemed best, initially, to get these ideas circulating among those who would have conversations with and influence the students on campus.  Armed then with a little background about the book and the DIY Bunko Breakfast story, I invited six colleagues to read Johnny Bunko.  All were delighted with the idea and, two weeks after distributing the books, we met yesterday to have our Bunko Breakfast (which, for us, turned out to be a Bunko Brunch).

The reading group included faculty, staff, and administrators:

• Dr. Tom Tanner, VP of Academics
• Karen Diefendorf, College Academic Dean
• Brian Mills, VP of Student Development
• Caryn Collins, Women’s Residence Hall Director
• Candra Landers, Coordinator of Service Learning
• Rob Maupin, Assistant Professor of Intercultural Studies

We all agreed that the six lessons were valuable and spent time trying to “read between the lines” of the sparse text and raise more questions: 

• If there’s no plan (or road map), is there at least a compass?  
• Does persistence *trump* talent, or does it develop it?  
• In our media-obsessed culture, does charisma trump talent and persistence?  
• What is the role of character?
• Is a willingness to be taught a precondition for learning the six lessons (cf. Proverbs 2.1-11)?
• Will college students, who haven’t had the opportunity to work for a time, have enough context to “get” the book?

Given the context of our own organization–namely, a theologically-informed academic institution–we saw many parallels between Johnny’s lessons and those provided in Scripture (esp. the role of serving others, persevering, working within one’s areas of giftedness, etc.).  Dr. Tanner observed that Diana, Johnny’s career advisor, provides a supernatural influence in Johnny’s life.  Indeed, just as the Biblical narrative indicates that God sometimes “breaks in” from the outside to communicate with people, we wondered if Johnny could have learned his lessons as effectively without Diana’s assistance and authority.

A few of us now plan to read the book with groups of students to gauge their response.  Brian in particular is interested in test-marketing Johnny Bunko with students to see if it might be useful as a text for a freshman orientation class next year.  In fact, he recently used the “persistence trumps talent” lesson when speaking to a group of freshmen.

Cheers to Dan Pink for providing us with an opportunity to have this conversation, and thanks to those who participated in it yesterday.  Get yourself a copy of The Adventures of Johnny Bunko and let me know what you think.

Related posts:

Review of Johnny Bunko: A Presentation

Recommended Reading for Business Communication Students

Dan Pink Discusses Johnny Bunko in Chicago

Photo by Syl Arena

A few weeks back, I wrote about how to read a book.  Syl Arena, who is Joe McNally’s assistant, has just begun a blog and offers some ways to seriously hack (pimp) a book.  These include the usual suspects such as the use of markers, pens, highlighters, and post-it tape flags but also some uncovenventional techniques such as adding a ring binding to a perfect-bound book and laminating the covers.  As an example, he offers his own hack of McNally’s The Moment It Clicks, one of the books that I’ll get to later in the year.  I’m not as confident with a grinder as Syl evidently is, so my copy of Joe’s book will remain in its original form.

Related posts:

How to Read a Book (Illustrated)
The 50 Books Project: Prologue, Part 1
The 50 Books Project: Prologue, Part 2
50 Books Project: June 2008 Titles