This as almost a great post. Then you wrote the last paragraph. Comparing "recovery from delusion" and the Obama election is a sure way to insult 50% (47%?) of your readers. This is your blog, so clearly you can write whatever you want. But to be reading a fascinating post about businesses tendency to adopt the culture of their founders, and then be slapped in the face with an unnecessary slam against their political beliefs is just wrong.
ISTJ
· 1 year ago
It's only an insult if you base your personality on your political beliefs (this goes for Mr. Wilson as well)
fredwilson
· 1 year ago
this wasn't a post about how businesses tend to adopt the cultures of their founders, that was the prelude. this was a post about our country, its founders, the politics that existed between the founding fathers, and the fact that some of those political forces remain at work today.
example
· 1 year ago
Maybe those people deserve to be insulted?
Chris Dodge
· 1 year ago
Interesting that you find Jefferson your favorite Founding Father, given some of his controversies such as being a slave-owner. Personally I like Franklin - what's not to love about him: an Entrepreneur, Inventor, Scientist, Diplomat, and - to top it off - quite the ladies man. However the long standing relationship (sometimes cordial and sometimes acrimonious) between Adams and Jefferson is a fascinating dialog between two visionaries.
fredwilson
· 1 year ago
i said "founding father and president", if the test were founding father alone, then i might be with you. but even on that test, it would be close. Jefferson had a vision for our country that ran deeper than Franklin's, i think
ducttape
· 1 year ago
Does anyone really recover from delusion - advance perhaps, but delusion is deep seated for many. I too am encouraged however, and look forward to rise of small business as the real recovery driver.
kidmercury
· 1 year ago
calling obama a "recovery from delusion" is, regrettably, evidence that we're plummeting deeper into delusion. the recovery would've been ron paul, who is true founding father material, and whose monetary policy and foreign policy is exactly what jefferson prescribed for the US in the constitution, and is precisely what made the US the leading nation in the world at one point in time. as for obama......hahaha. watch and see what his monetary policy and foreign policy does to this country. it's the exact opposite of what jefferson prescribed.
delusion ends with acceptance of the Truth. looks like we're not yet there, and still need to learn more lessons the hard way. thankfully, 2009 will provide us with those lessons.
DaveGoulden
· 1 year ago
The Truth of the environment we operate in as a country is quite a bit different from that of Jefferson's time. I agree with Fred that Obama has the characteristics of a leader like Jefferson and I believe he sees the Truth of today's World better than all the other candidates did, including Ron Paul. We are interconnected socially and economically in ways that couldn't have been conceived by the Founders.
Michael F. Martin
· 1 year ago
There is some irony in your comparison of Jefferson to Obama, as Jefferson famously got the most important and divisive issue facing the founders wrong.
fredwilson
· 1 year ago
Which would be slavery?
Michael F. Martin
· 1 year ago
If you don't know of him already, I would read a little about Gouverneur Morris. He's up there with Franklin in my mind. But of course he wasn't a president either. It's hard for me to count that against him. I wish that the cultural norm of their generation, which made power something to be accepted rather than grasped, were still the norm in ours.
aarondelcohen
· 1 year ago
Fred:
Inspiring. And many of us need that. If you haven't watched it, the HBO John Adams series is unbelievable.
fredwilson
· 1 year ago
I saw it. Great stuff
gordon_crovitz
· 1 year ago
Great post--we too often forget that the genius of our Founders extended well beyond political philosophy to include a real embrace and practice of technology and the sciences. How many other national cultures can say that? BTW, I'm reading a smart book called "Jefferson vs. the Patent Trolls" by Jeffrey Matsuura. Jefferson's ideas are highly relevant to today's debate over intellectual property and how we should define this kind of property in a country whose dominant gene is innovation.
fredwilson
· 1 year ago
Steven starts out his book, invention of air, with a quote from jefferson that pretty clearly shows that jefferson was not a fan of protecting scientific discoveries too tightly
S.t
· 1 year ago
your fav is President Jefferson?
You're kidding, right?
The guy responsible for a massive land grab that, at the time, was thought to be unconstitutional. Almost all the land was occupied by Native American Indians. If you'd have been living during that time, Fred, this would have made you sick to your stomach.
Further,-- Jefferson? Really? Didn't Jefferson order the new US Navy to engage in military action in a foreign country for the first time -- WITHOUT the consent of CONGRESS -- to rescue American hostages held in Islamic Ottoman Libya?
'To the Shores of Tripoli'
Brian
· 1 year ago
I agree. Jefferson is my least favorite founding father.
He was by far the most partisan of the founding fathers constantly stabbing Washington and Adams in the back.
Jefferson protested about executive power until he actually had it. Then he loved abusing it.
Jefferson was not even involved in the constitutional convention and he hated it.
I would say Jefferson was the first modern American politician. A divider not a unite-er.
I think WWII is a better comparison to 9/11 than the Alien and Sedition acts. I do not believe (and could be wrong) that we were ever attacked by France. We were actually attacked on 9/11.
example
· 1 year ago
Obama won because bush screwed up the economy. If the economy had boomed under bush we'd all be goose-stepping towards fascism. Adams was just as much a founder as Jefferson, after all. And the Alien and Sedition acts were put in place by the same government that ratified the bill of rights. Jefferson was just one voice among many, but he's venerated today because his views happened to line up with modern American viewpoints.
pangaro
· 1 year ago
i agree with comments about the influence of founders and leaders on an organization. it's also commonly stated that the 'culture' of the organization is important, but these points don't explain why some organizations can transform and others cannot. it is the organization's openness to the 'creation of new language' --- that is, it's ability to understand change, and to converse with a changing environment --- that is the fundamental power of a company or government over time. see http://pangaro.com/littlegreybook/ for a detailed thesis.
All Comments
delusion ends with acceptance of the Truth. looks like we're not yet there, and still need to learn more lessons the hard way. thankfully, 2009 will provide us with those lessons.
Inspiring. And many of us need that. If you haven't watched it, the HBO John Adams series is unbelievable.
You're kidding, right?
The guy responsible for a massive land grab that, at the time, was thought to be unconstitutional. Almost all the land was occupied by Native American Indians. If you'd have been living during that time, Fred, this would have made you sick to your stomach.
Further,-- Jefferson? Really? Didn't Jefferson order the new US Navy to engage in military action in a foreign country for the first time -- WITHOUT the consent of CONGRESS -- to rescue American hostages held in Islamic Ottoman Libya?
'To the Shores of Tripoli'
He was by far the most partisan of the founding fathers constantly stabbing Washington and Adams in the back.
Jefferson protested about executive power until he actually had it. Then he loved abusing it.
Jefferson was not even involved in the constitutional convention and he hated it.
I would say Jefferson was the first modern American politician. A divider not a unite-er.
I think WWII is a better comparison to 9/11 than the Alien and Sedition acts. I do not believe (and could be wrong) that we were ever attacked by France. We were actually attacked on 9/11.