Roger Abramson: With Barriers To Entry So Low, What Stops People From Under-Cutting The Competition? (Part III)

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Motivation comes from emotion.

From buyers to boards of directors to scientists to accountants, human beings are compelled to rescue a child from danger or choose a supplier or grow a mustache because they’re caught up in the instinct and emotion. Not because they studied any global trend data.

If the numbers were what mattered most, consultants would never need to smile, to shake hands, to make eye contact, to wear a flashy but conservative suit and tie. They could show up in a T-shirt and shorts with a few numbers scribbled on the back of a napkin.

Look at the way people dress when left to their own devices.

The fact that a board of directors wears stuffy suits instead of comfy sandals proves they’re emotional basket-cases utterly devoid of rational capacity and they feel threatened by anyone who’s not dressed as foolishly as themselves.

In business, you need to stimulate buying behavior.

Mot: To move. Like motor. I was moved to tell you about the motion of an emotional motivation.

If action is your goal, emotion is your motorboat.

People regret taking actions they can’t justify to their friend.
People regret missing big opportunities, like the time they could have bought Microsoft stock.
People want to be the envy of their friends.

There’s a reason nobody ever taught you this stuff in the government schools and government-approved private schools.

“They” don’t want competition.

Here’s one thing which stops many from entering “easy” markets:

Nobody I’ve spoken with has seriously contested the idea that Congress is currently for sale to the highest bidder. It’s not news.

What’s little known is how cheaply political influence can be bought.

So if you were on top of the business world, then you wouldn’t want tens of millions of brilliant, young, quick-witted competitors stealing your spot on the top of the mountain, right?

Neither the silver-back gorilla nor the chief of the tribe wants to battle every successive generation.

Associations, colleges, and government schools want to produce tens of millions of obedient employees and consumers who are no threat to the status quo.

By all measures, they seem to have been profoundly successful at achieving this stated goal. Yes, Rockefeller’s education board actually put this in writing in 1913 in General Education Board, Occasional Papers, No. 1. Look it up.

So why am I telling you this?

Right now, we’re on track to have at least 25 times as many billionaires in the next 25 years.

Ivy League schools compete to attract top talent. Guess what? Top talent such as Zuckerberg and Gates quickly drop out to pursue larger opportunities.

The richest men on earth knew this: The most expensive schools in the country are simply not the best investments of time, money, or attention. Not even close.

The guy in the news who was recently accepted to all 8 ivy league schools stands a pretty good chance of being another future billionaire whether he attends college or not.

Then why do top schools have such esteemed reputations?

Not because top schools educate well, but only because they select well.

Once they’ve selected great candidates, their job is done. Then they can do what every jerk in the office does: STEAL credit for your accomplishments.

You could pretty much lock these high-achievers in a closet with no windows for four years and they’d pop out as billionaires, probably by writing an amazing app using nothing but their cell phone.

In fact, you’d damage their earnings potential less, according to studies of billionaire PhD’s.

Click here for the final part of this four-part series.