I love my wife in more ways than my words can express. But Lisa isn’t my first love. Before her, I had another love, but it was the kind of love that can’t love you back. I was in love with the idea of making money.

Today I learned a valuable lesson; muscles that go unused become rigid and weak. After just an hour with a personal trainer, my legs felt like noodles and my shoulders ached. The same can be said for the mind, if not exercised rigorously, it too becomes weak. And so the training begins, both the body and mind. Welcome to my work-out. I know, it scares me too.

In this post I will take you in a totally different direction, one that I have never dreamed of taking before. If you thought you were going to read something about Parkinson’s, Golden Retrievers or were in need of some inspiration to provide perspective to the challenges that you face, this week you may feel left out. If this post comes across as too academic or irrelevant to your interests, feel free to skip down to the last few paragraphs. Fear not, we will return to our regular programing, what-ever that means, next week.

I would like to elaborate on my earlier statement. My love for making money is an over simplification. I love business, not because of what it can do for those who master its fundamentals, but what it can do for society as a whole. Think about why a business exists; it exists to satisfy an unmet need. Successful businesses never lose sight of this. The more foundational the need, food, health care, and shelter, the greater that opportunity for societal change.

There are axioms, fundamental and irrefutable truths, that all successful companies must embrace. Companies that find the right balance of these axioms have the potential to make their mark on society. Rebalancing is frequently required as the economic climates change and political winds blow. I would like to take a moment to share with you a few of these axioms.

• A business doesn’t thrive because of government; it survives in spite of government. – if we had to rely on the creative genius of government, there would be no smart phone in every pocket but instead we would be fighting for a Radio Shack 486 desktop in every home. We would have to use an old fashion dictionary to look up the meaning of the word “is” instead of watching, in real time, the ramifications of corrupting the definition of this simple word.
• A business is amoral; neither moral or immoral. – its efforts can be used for the betterment of society or it wholesale destruction. Its leadership have both the moral and ethical responsibility to chart its course.
• A business must balance the needs of all of its stakeholders – stake holders are not limited to shareholders. Stake holders include everyone it touches in all of its business, vendor and employment relationships, its ecological foot print, etc., all the while focusing on the needs of the customer.
• An engaged workforce will release creativity in powerful ways – the collaborative efforts that it takes to build a simple building such as a warehouse or strip are nothing but amazing. Multiple companies with divergent interest, hiring employees with a vast array of skills, must work towards a common goal, while aligning their own self-interests to that of their customer. Now imagine extending that to something as complex as a skyscraper or as common as health care facility.
• The risk / reward model must hold – I am fascinated by the risks that a company is willing to take and the investments they are willing to make to bring a product to market. A single drug can relieve the discomfort of so many, or enable people with conditions similar to mine, to remain productive in society in ways unimaginable even a generation ago. There must be an incentive, beyond altruism, to continue to make these long-term, even visionary, investments.
• Nothing is sold until something solved. – if you have an unmet need, it is likely that you are not alone. Entrepreneurs understand that and the more of you that have the same or a similar need, the greater the likelihood that there is a creative person, not bound by one’s race, gender or ethnicity, maybe even with little or no capital, that will find a way to satisfy that need all on their own.

My first love now takes a back seat to my true love. But there are occasions that I have to remind myself of those passions that made me who I am and now provide the framework that I need to face the challenges of living with PD. After all, it’s just a blip, a footnote, that no longer defines me; made possible, in large part, because some visionary saw an unmet need and brought a product to market that has the potential to impact a large segment of society.

Thank you for bearing with me these last 900 or so words. If you jumped ahead to the end, you’re not alone. Ivy checked out after the first paragraph.

Thanks for reading, liking and sharing

Al and his faithful companion…never mind.