Entrepreneurship is the Heartbeat
Chapter 4 - Little Book of Big Reasons to Love America
"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."
Theodore Roosevelt
The Birth of a Miracle
The American miracle was born out of the spirit of entrepreneurship. The term "entrepreneur" comes from the French word "entreprendre," which means "to undertake." I think of entrepreneurs as the creators and artists of the business world. They imagine a new reality without knowing if it will succeed or fail, fulfill a need in the market, or fall flat, and take the risk to make it come to be.
For every famous entrepreneur who made America known as the land of opportunity, millions of unknown Americans dared greatly to build a better life. They decided to leave their family, culture, and country to undertake a new thing at significant risk. When my wife's great-grandfather, 18-year-old Ugo Perfetti, boarded the Provence with his two brothers on a six-day crossing of the Atlantic, they were self-selecting to be part of their new countries' cultural code. A unique new blend of shared experiences, values, and beliefs defined America's entrepreneurial ethos.
This cultural code was formed almost overnight in historical terms because of an extraordinary set of powerful amplifiers simultaneously happening in the same place. The Industrial Revolution accelerated economic growth, while a network of railroads accelerated mass mobility. Not only were Americans traveling faster and further, but some were doing so in style and comfort in the luxurious Pullman train cars.
Free market policies, democracy, and political stability created the fertile soil that attracted and supported the brightest and most daring from all over the world.
"The business of America is business." - Calvin Coolidge
America became the epicenter of the entrepreneurial revolution with a ripple effect on a global scale. If we are to nurture entrepreneurship as the heartbeat of America, we must understand the core components of how this unique ecosystem was formed.
Freedom of speech stimulated the influx of tremendous intellectual capital and boosted education, science, and the arts. Freedom of religion, in particular, was a key contributor to the rise of entrepreneurship. The Calvinists and Puritans infused the idea that labor is a calling and that success in one's work is a sign of God's favor. Religious communities provided a social framework that enabled individuals to pool resources, share risks, and collaborate in economic ventures, leading to the growth of cooperative enterprises and family businesses.
These communities also provided a moral ethic that created a safer business environment. A sense of purpose and mission drove religious entrepreneurs to pursue their vision with zeal and diligence, qualities essential for innovation and business success. The expectation of ethical business practices formed a cultural baseline, often under-appreciated by those who have not experienced the alternative firsthand. They are, in fact, a significant departure from the norm in many parts of the world. Systemic oppression, unfair economic conditions, and predatory economic practices are the harsh realities that continue to drive millions to seek refuge in the United States today.
Living in the Shadows of Conformity
I happen to know quite a bit about inhospitable environments for entrepreneurship from my years living in countries where it was mostly outlawed. My now single mother, younger sister, and I moved from Mozambique to the USSR when I was 14 years old after my parents divorced. Once again, we were starting over and moved into a tiny one-bedroom apartment in an old building in Moscow. For years, I slept in the kitchen on a pullout chair with a curtain, providing some sense of privacy.
The great "advantage" of Socialism was that everything was "generously" provided by a paternalistic state. Free housing and free education, with most basic services and goods being subsidized by the government and inexpensive. They were also very limited and of low quality. The shelves in grocery stores were sparsely occupied by a measly selection of food products, but no one went hungry. There were long lines for toilet paper, green bananas, or imported goods from other Socialist bloc states. If a family were fortunate enough to save up for a bad Soviet car, they would still have to wait for years to get one. The capital's grand avenues had no traffic jams because so few people had cars.
Living in the USSR was to live in the shadows of conformity. If entrepreneurship was the heartbeat of culture in America, it barely had a pulse in the USSR. Private property and commerce were severely restricted. To own foreign currency without special permission was illegal. To own US dollars without special permission was illegal. When Gorbachev came to power, a slight loosening of restrictions on entrepreneurship sparked an instant flurry of commercial activity. As a single mom with two teenage children desperate for a better life, my mother took full advantage of this opportunity.
A strange and distorted culture is created when entrepreneurship is essentially outlawed and ostracized as greedy and opportunistic rather than quintessentially human and beneficial to society. The demand for goods and services never disappears, but the supply is forced into the shadows. The black market becomes the primary market for people to get what they want. Another deeply human drive, the desire to improve your life and that of your family, is also marginalized and gives rise to entrepreneurs forced to break unjust laws to improve their fortunes.
My mother had a small foreign currency account in Germany from her years working overseas, and we used this money as seed capital for a tiny family enterprise. We traveled to East Berlin to see family once or twice a year. As my Soviet citizen family members could not cross into West Berlin, my sister and I, both teenagers with Chilean passports, would be entrusted with a few hundred German Marks to cross over and buy basic consumer electronics like tape recorders, some of the first personal computers, and VCRs. We would sell them on the black market in Moscow at three times the initial investment. The demand generated additional Russian Rubles, but since exchanging them for German Marks was illegal, we had to smuggle them out to exchange them in West Berlin. Russian border guards would inspect every train car leaving the country, so we hid bundles of bills inside train pillows.
I vividly remember how my heart raced every time the border guards came in as our train crossed the border, usually in the middle of the night, searching through our belongings. I knew if they found the money, my mother would be arrested on the spot. What would happen to my sister and me was something we chose to not think of.
This family business helped us get a bigger apartment, build a little countryside house outside of Moscow, and be generally well-off compared to the average Soviet citizen. In America, we would still be considered poor, but in the USSR, we had entered the ranks of amateur entrepreneurs.
In the gray mass of the average, having access to what was considered essential teenage clothing items like Nike shoes or Levi’s jeans was risky as I could easily get mugged in broad daylight. I once had a leather jacket I loved taken from me at gunpoint and a watch taken off my wrist by a group of young criminals literally on the Red Square. This generation of young criminals became the Russian mafia in the nineties.
Because of an almost complete absence of free commerce under the Soviets, many of those early entrepreneurs became fabulously wealthy after the fall of the USSR. Doing in the light of free commerce precisely what they did in the shadows, they thrived beyond their wildest dreams. I know a man who was thrown into jail and beaten up by a policeman for selling souvenirs to foreign tourists. Not a decade later, the same policeman was the doorman at a hotel this man owned. You can’t make this stuff up.
America Still Shines Brightly
I moved my family to the United States at age 35 to start over. Again. This happened years before what can be called the Re Sovietization of Russia and the horrific invasion of Ukraine. The invasion was shocking but hardly surprising for those who were paying attention.
Heartbroken, I observed from a distance many of my friends navigate this tragic historic shift, knowing I would have been among the millions leaving the country, as I would not be willing to compromise my freedom and conscience and live under an oppressive regime if I had any choice in the matter.
My new country has been a hospitable environment for my entrepreneurial personality. In Theodore Roosevelt's words, I have both failed and dared greatly. I founded three businesses and two non-profits, created music videos with some of the top creatives in the world, developed marketing strategies for remarkable organizations, consulted brilliant founders, invested in innovative tech companies, and served the poor on three different continents. My children have breathed the air of freedom and opportunity. I pray they never experience the opposite again.
The one great advantage I've gained is anti-fragility, the capacity to withstand adversity and become stronger because of it. I now coach business and non-profit leaders to develop entrepreneurial superpowers. To dare greatly, fail well, and succeed at an extraordinary level in a fertile environment where entrepreneurship is still the very heartbeat of a nation.
You can learn more about it here.
The entrepreneurial culture in America is a historic miracle. A unique alignment of the stars created an environment where many young people dream of starting their own businesses, in contrast with parts of the world where young people dream of becoming government bureaucrats or criminals because those are the types of people they see flourishing in their country. Worst yet, many do not dare to dream of a better future because they simply cannot see it as a possible reality.
An environment where the entrepreneurial spirit is widely celebrated cannot be manufactured. It is, incidentally, why America's most well-intentioned "nation-building" as a superpower has never worked. You can change the laws and elect democratic governments but not transplant a culture.
Many Latin American economies, while democratic and free on paper, are still oligarchies where a few wealthy families control most of the economy. African nations are often kept poor by civil war, violence, and chronically corrupt government officials capitalizing on their power. Post-Soviet nations suffer from the same malaise amplified by low moral and ethical business practices created by 75 years of war against religion under Soviet rule. The entrepreneurs in these countries flourish despite the system, not because of it. Entrepreneurial success is not celebrated and comes with resentment from others. Those who achieve it are forced to hide behind high walls, barbed wire, and private security. This starkly contrasts with America, where successful entrepreneurs are celebrated and, by and large, live perfectly normal lives.
I believe the fertile soil of American entrepreneurship is a miracle that needs to be cherished, protected, and nurtured. It created a standard of life for millions of Americans that was unprecedented in the history of humanity. The ripple effect elevated the global economy to new heights, lifting billions out of poverty.
"America's best asset is its entrepreneurial spirit." – Steve Forbes
"The U.S. is the best place in the world to invest and to start a business." – Warren Buffett
"Success in America is no longer about growing up in a wealthy neighborhood or attending a prestigious school, but about hard work and entrepreneurship." – Michelle Obama
"America is a beacon of entrepreneurship where anyone can transform an idea into a reality." – Richard Branson
"Entrepreneurship in America has turned dreamers into doers, creating a culture of innovation and opportunity." – Bill Gates
"The land of opportunity is better described as the land of entrepreneurship." – Jeff Bezos
"The American dream is built on the backs of entrepreneurs who dared to dream big." – Daymond John
"The spirit of entrepreneurship is the heartbeat of the American economy." – Michael Dell
"In America, entrepreneurs are celebrated for taking risks that transform economies and improve lives." – Sundar Pichai