"Made in America": A book review

“Made in America” by Sam Walton is the humble triumph by the figurehead of possibly the last great age of American capitalism and freedom.  It is an unapologetic assertion of the tremendous value Wal-Mart created during the post-World War 2 era – a time when more wealth and prosperity was created than ever before in human history.  I had strongly mixed feelings upon finishing this book – which begins with Sam’s humble beginnings as a retail franchise owner in 1945 Newport, Arkansas, and culminates with his death in April 1992. 

In one sense, I felt awe and inspiration.  I can see how the book is very useful as a learning tool for entrepreneurs or anyone participating in the marketplace.  The biggest takeaway for me in that regard is “thinking small”.  Sam resisted materialism, and thought that spending one’s money and building one’s lifestyle on flashy consumer goods was unnecessary and unsustainable.  Even as a multi-billion dollar enterprise, he focused on the fundamentals that made Wal-Mart so successful in the first place; i.e. passing savings along to the customer (cutting margins), and relentlessly focusing on small improvements in customer experience that make a huge difference.  In short, he didn’t put the cart before the horse. 

However, the most profound insight I gained was the philosophical underpinnings of Walton’s life work.  As I alluded to earlier, he was a product of the greatest era of American free markets and innovation.  The chapter “Giving Something Back” is the best argument for capitalism that I’ve read in a long time.  In response to socialist detractors who claim that Wal-Mart is exploitative and anti-compassionate, he explains that Wal-Mart in its nature is giving something to society, independent of its extensive charitable giving. 

For example, we did 143 billion in sales this year.  For the last ten years – 1982 to 1992 – we have averaged sales of, say, 13 billion a year.  So that’s 130 billion in sales.  If we only saved our customers 10 percent over that they would be paying if we weren’t there – and I think that’s very conservative – that would be $13 billion we’ve saved them.  That’s $13 billion which is a product of a free market system that allows us to operate efficiently, and it’s the reason our customers love us so.  The truth is that Wal-Mart has been a powerful force for improving the standard of living in our mostly rural trade areas, and our customers recognize it. (pg 305)

The rest of the chapter is an example of the intuition, knowledge, and responsibility that is required for voluntary (read: real) charitable giving to thrive.  “We have never been inclined to give any undeserving stranger a free ride, and we will never change our minds about that” (299).  Imagine a president or prime minister having the balls to say something like this!  I can hear the inner social justice warrior shrieks of “racism” like a nihilist jungle in my head. 

The bulk of Walton’s charity work focused on education.  “We want kids to learn about the tremendous potential of the free enterprise system and to see for themselves what all the advantages are of a stable, democratic government” (301).  He laments the administration and bureaucracy prevalent in most charities today, and the purposelessness of foundations covertly used as tax shelters.  A solution Walton found useful in curtailing this was favoring programs in which students are required to contribute some of their own money toward tuition.  “I’ve always preferred to hire people who had to at least partly work their way through school…The secret lies in motivating kids who aren’t getting educated today to want to put themselves through school, and to make them understand the rewards they can expect when they do so (303).”

Apart from a slightly negative attitude toward using charity as a tool for tax evasion – I consider it heroic – and democracy, I wholeheartedly agree with the philosophy of Walton’s initiatives.  Our current relativist, socialist, obedience-focused style of Prussian education is destructive for children and was for me.  The vast majority of young adults entering the workforce are not remotely competent in basic skills of discipline, responsibility, and critical thinking that are so necessary to a healthy functioning free market.  I personally ascribe my excellent second enlightenment (am I allowed to coin such a term?  Fuck it) self-education to resources such as Freedomain Radio, The Mises Institute, The Joe Rogan Experience and a few solid teachers in public school and college.

The sadness I feel upon finishing the book is linked to the inspiration.  I see how the drive, discipline, and commitment of one man and a team can generate such incredible wealth and value for a whole society. For me, Sam’s death at the end of the book is symbolic of the death of western civilization as we know it.  I see that my country and virtually every other nation around the world is giving up on personal responsibility, free enterprise and building a civilization for the long term.  Instead, we pale ourselves at the altar of fascism, socialism, white guilt, and accepting temporary pleasure at the cost of long term destruction of society. 

As I finish writing this, I am getting ready to attend my local philosophy meetup, where I get to connect with the greatest minds in my city: people who value freedom, honesty, rationality, empathy and virtue.  This is how we defeat, or at least find oasis against the rising tide of statism and self-detonation of western civilization.  By sharing knowledge and insight with the best among us, we expand the division of labour in virtue.  We can learn from Sam in “thinking small”.  Let us not focus on the gravity and totality of defending western civilization, but on the small things we can do every day to improve ourselves and our community.  Apart from philosophy, I like to focus on entrepreneurship and building a professional and personal network of people who like to discuss how to build wealth and provide value voluntarily. 

So let us learn what we can from great thinkers and drivers like Sam Walton, and do the little things that will protect and build the little freedom we have left.  It may be our last chance. 

Directionally Challenged

When I was younger, I was labelled “directionally challenged.”  

By that I mean I was not adept at getting from point A to point B.  If I was given the task of commuting outside of my “sphere of influence” -- as my dad used to call it -- I would render myself helpless.

This lacking skillset was assigned to my genetic predisposition and who I was as a person.  I was “just not good at geography.”  Nevermind that there was no reason for me to be good with navigation.  

Every day, I was sentenced to go the same place at 9am and come home at 3:30pm.  My parents would then drive me to hockey or baseball somewhere in/around Toronto at 7pm and bring me home at 10pm.  As I turned legal drinking age, I learned how to get to a few bars downtown, but not much else.  

I didn’t understand directions because I was given no incentive or responsibility to learn. My life was a slow, repetitive grind of public schooling and sheltered avoidance for most of my youth and teenage years.

Things have changed over the past two years, however.  Now, I find joy in knowing my way around the city.  I love learning about the history of different streets, highways, and neighborhoods.  Because the more I understand about my surroundings, the more capacity I have to bring value to others, and to be versatile and adaptive.  I get excited when strangers or friends ask for directions and I am able to help, when in the past I would invariably shrug my shoulders and move on.  

After all, transportation is the lifeblood of free enterprise.  If there is no movement of goods and services, grocery store shelves don’t get stocked, our hunter gatherer ancestors get selected out, and civilization does not advance.  

In part, this newfound passion was borne out of necessity.  Working as a door to door and business to business sales rep for over a year, one needs to know how to get to Burlington one day and Richmond Hill the next.

But at a deeper level, it’s a result of taking responsibility for my life and surroundings.  It’s about understanding that there is a bigger, better, and more expansive world than the one I was confined to from a young age.  

If there is a part of your true self that was not nurtured or recognized as a child, please understand that the gravity of your past does not determine the flight and brightness of your future.  New passions and gifts are always accessible with a dose of new challenges, a hearty serving of responsibility, and a dash of courage.

Why everyone is a sleazy salesperson

Occasionally, I will hear people say something like “I’m just not good at sales.”  Lies, I say!  If you have survived long enough to express a disdain for selling, and are not living in an off-grid cabin in the northern Ontario woods by yourself, you have closed hundreds of sales in your lifetime.  

You have convinced your friends to exchange their time for your company, and vice versa.  You have convinced your girlfriend to come out to the baseball game, in exchange for watching “Bridesmaids” for the 4th time with her (you are also not a very good negotiator).  You have convinced Starbucks to extort $5 from you in exchange for a unicorn horn shaving spice latte (ie coffee, milk and sugar).  

If you are in any kind of contact with other human beings, you are almost definitely selling all the time -- no matter how subtle.  If you are uncomfortably gazing upwards at the ads on the subway, you are silently selling people on “please don’t make eye contact, please don’t talk to me, I hate people, WHY IS THIS THING STOPPING IN THE MIDDLE OF THE TUNNEL AGAIN GOD DAMMIT!!!!!AFSHDFUOHFOEHFJ”  (Or maybe that’s just me....)

This is the concept of “non sales selling” put forward by Daniel Pink in “To Sell is Human” (2012).  He found that most jobs in the modern, western world involve motivating and negotiating others to do things.  This type of sales is masked in fancy titles such as “Human Resources”, “Senior Marketing Director”, etc.  Globalization and automation have made pure manual labor jobs virtually obsolete (you still have to sell your employer on hiring you).

Even when you are all by your lonesome, you are selling to different parts of yourself.  “Should I indulge in this clickbait, feminist outrage porn, or keep scrolling down my Facebook news feed for greener pastures…”  Sometimes the part of myself that likes to be angry closes the calm, zen part on going deep in this hellish internet rabbit hole, sometimes vice versa, for better and for worse.  

In my opinion, everyone needs to have some sort of sales education to be financially independent in today’s world.  And the best way to learn is by doing!  It is relatively easy to get a entry level sales job without experience, especially if the position is pure commision (and you’ll get a side of learning emotional regulation).  

Or just be more conscious of when you are engaging in non sales selling.  Eg when you are trying to convince someone of your position on a political issue, be sensitive to what strategies work; what metaphors are effective in communicating my perspective?  What type of language is most effective in persuading others, or at least convincing them to listen?  What type of socratic questions are most thought provoking?

I deplore the negative stereotypes surrounding the profession of sales.  I wish to invite everyone to open themselves to the joy and abundance of accepting the fact that we are all varying degrees of sleazy salespeople all the time, and that’s okay!  

In fact, it can be one of the most enjoyable parts of contributing value to the marketplace, if you want it to be.  

How much money do you need to feel rich?

This was a great question that popped into my head last night.  I love it because it totally blasts the concept of richness being primarily associated with money.  

When I think about money in these terms, it makes me realize that the more money that I need to feel rich, the poorer I am.  My feeling has been that if I’m making $1,000+ per week, I will have more money than I know what to do with it.  Which is great, because it’s totally not a farfetched number.   

But lately, I’ve been feeling very rich when I have enough money to get by, a bit left over to save, and a plan to expand my earning potential for the future.  And it’s not the money that is mainly responsible for this feeling of abundance and wealth.

It’s the trust and dedication I have in my relationships; knowing that I am surrounding myself with people who bring out the best in me, as I do them.  It’s the feeling that I have full control over my ship, and can move in any direction that I wish.  It’s joyfully staying up until 5am, laughing and having amazing conversations with a true friend -- and not having to worry about waking up early the next day because I have no boss to answer to.  

I guess the point I am making is very simple, yet forgotten by many people.  I don’t need a ton of money to be wealthy, because I invest in myself and my relationships.  There is so much potential for abundance in everything, I just have to open my eyes to it.  

And you can do it too!