The New American Dream

In school, we learned that America was the greatest country in the world because anybody, if they worked hard enough, could be a success. We learned that anything is possible if you put your mind to it. There is no aristocracy in America, no class of ruling elites. All of us are created equal. This bold idea inspired the creation of our nation, but we seem to be losing touch with it.

I think we're losing touch with it largely because we hear all the bad stories, and few of the good ones. How many times have you heard about a greedy CEO who ruthlessly hurt others in a grab for money and power? How many times have you heard about politicians selling their souls in corrupt backroom deals? How many times have you heard about workaholics that strain their personal relationships but still never seem to get ahead?

Now compare that with how many times you've heard about someone who did the right thing and was rewarded for it. I bet you can't think of as many examples. As a society we are undergoing a dramatic shift in assumptions: for the first time in the American experiment, we no longer praise success - we are suspicious of it.

To illustrate the point, let me share an experience I recently had. I have been volunteering for Rick Snyder's campaign for governor of Michigan. It is likely that you haven't heard of Rick Snyder, and for a good reason: he's not a politician. He is a venture capitalist specializing in health technology from Ann Arbor, and before that (in the 90's) he was COO and President of Gateway Computers. The opposition's instinct was to label Rick an "out of touch millionaire CEO, trying to buy the office." I guess if you take things at face value, the smear sounds reasonable enough, but it doesn't tell you anything about Rick's history. If you knew Rick, you would know that nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, Rick had a modest upbringing in Battle Creek, worked for less than 2$ an hour in high school, and to top it off he paid his way through the University of Michigan and worked tirelessly to earn his undergrad, MBA, and JD by the time he was 23. From there he had a successful career through hard work and doing the right thing. Now, regardless of your views on the substance of Rick Snyder's campaign, I think we should be praising the guy for his work ethic - not blasting him for his success.

But this isn't about Rick Snyder's campaign - that was just a recent example that I wanted to share. This is about our recent suspicion of success. I'm not sure if the old version of the American Dream can ever come back, because I don't think it was really complete. I think we need to update the American Dream.

For our generation, the American Dream is about being successful and using our success to do good in the world. We should be unashamed of living comfortably, but we should also strive to use our wealth to build a better world. The concept of social entrepreneurship is really useful here: our generation sees no conflict between making money and doing good. The old way of thinking is based off the notion that there is a limited amount of wealth in the world, and that anyone who is a success grabbed more than their fair share. Our new (and true) way of thinking is based off the notion that wealth is dynamic and we can grow the pie for everybody. I am no economist, but it is pretty plain to see that people are on average better off today than they were 2,000 years ago. (At the bottom I attached a google books thing that lets you see a graph showing growth in total human wealth over time from the great book The Origin of Wealth)

There are still great disparities, but we need to realize the fundamental truth that the pie is not fixed, and we should not be skeptical of success, but we should encourage it. Why? Because we know that people that are successful are innovators, and they create wealth that rises all boats.