You Didn't Build That - Somebody Else Did

Throughout the centuries there have been men and women who took first steps, down new roads, armed with nothing but their own creativity, imagination and determination. They had access to all of the same things to which others had access but it was their vision determination to do something that set them apart.

Others saw the opportunities that presented themselves as a result and built on those original ideas or added complimentary services and products to what others had developed while the rest just stood by and watched.

It started when someone got tired of dragging heavy things around and started to develop an idea to make it easier. Nothing motivates innovation like inconvenience.

Eventually, he invented the wheel and technological development was born. The wheel led to the development of the cart, then new and improved carts that ultimately revolutionized society. We were more mobile, could travel greater distances and by harnessing animals like oxen and horses could haul more goods further, could engage in trade and could more easily explore this world.

Government didn’t provide the education, infrastructure or financing to develop the wheel, it didn't exist. It was the idea in the mind of one person. It’s called vision and vision is the ability to see things the rest of us can’t. Each new development, each improvement in existing technology, business, the arts or any other field of human achievement was the result of a few taking those steps that the many wouldn't or couldn't.

The wheel was the first step in humanity walking on the moon but the inventor of the wheel was not a participant in the development of space travel, he merely opened a door that allowed others to dream new dreams and to have new visions.

President Obama spoke last Friday and in his speech denigrated the accomplishment of all those who have marched through history, building what we now enjoy. It was without a doubt in my mind, the most specious example of pandering to mediocrity that I have ever heard come out of a politician’s mouth and I’ve heard a lot of pandering come out of the mouths of politicians.

What unbridled arrogance to suggest that somehow the hard work, the commitment, the risk taking, the personal and financial investment and the vision of individuals to build something really wasn’t the result of their efforts but was due to the availability of collective resources.

“If you've got a business, you didn't build that. Somebody else made that happen.” What glib and arrogant nonsense!

What people like President Obama overlook is that we all have access to the things he used as examples including infrastructure and the Internet but most of us didn’t accomplish or even try to accomplish what the visionaries have done because we didn’t recognize the potential, lacked the motivation, the creativity or the imagination and commitment to achieve it.

His speech completely misses the point and his statements are the worst kind of electioneering because it doesn't simply attack his opponent, it demeans entrepreneurs and citizens of his own country.

Government developed the Internet and did nothing with it for years. It took visionaries and entrepreneurs who were willing to take a risk and who saw its potential to turn it into what it is today. Government didn’t achieve that, neither did academics, bureaucrats, unions or any other of the collective mind-set groups who innovate and build nothing. It was every-day individuals who saw an opportunity and were prepared to take a risk the rest of us wouldn't who made the investment in time and money and who built what the rest of us not only couldn’t build, we couldn’t even see.

Those are the people who when unemployed, seize the opportunity to try and create their own jobs rather than whining about the government's inability to provide one for them.

Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone but he played no part in what Steve Jobs and Apple have done to telephone technology.

There have been roads in various forms for centuries but it took people like Henry Ford to realize the full potential of that infrastructure to build an auto industry based on mass production. It took Bill Gates to understand the future of computers when even IBM thought desktop computers would never be anything more than a niche market toy.

For centuries, man dreamed of flying but it wasn’t until two men achieved it at Kittyhawk that it became a reality. Government didn’t accomplish it nor were the Wright Brothers aided by committees and unions and others who don’t have the courage to dream. The Wright Brothers were mocked but they succeeded.

It is, in fact, too often the case that those who dare to dream and to chase their dreams are often laughed at or treated with derision by those who can’t see beyond the status quo. 

IBM thought Bill Gates was a fool when he offered his operating system for their ‘niche market’ desktop computer for a royalty of only pennies per unit sale. They mocked him for not taking their offer of six figures to simply buy the OS from him. We don’t remember the names of those who laughed at Bill Gates in their arrogance but we certainly know who he is and what he has accomplished.

In a world dominated by men, women like Florence Nightingale who revolutionized medical practice despite being dismissed as irrelevant by those who lacked the vision to see what she could see and Marie Curie whose pioneering work in the field of radioactive medicine left conventional medical thinking in the dust.

Just as poets and painters and musicians do not create things we’ve never read, heard or seen before simply because they had access to pen and paper, paint or musical instruments it is equally true that those who build new businesses, new technologies and make new ideas a reality did not achieve those things simply because there was an existing infrastructure or technology. To suggest otherwise is to celebrate the failure of the mediocre over the successes of those who see beyond the status quo.

Where most saw an apple falling from a tree, Newton saw the concept of gravity. When the world accepted the reality of gravity, only a few had the vision and the courage to find ways to overcome it.

It isn’t just the great innovators who have accomplished much. Small business people across our societies have brought the same thinking and effort to their small part of the world. They have a vision, and they commit themselves to making that idea a reality.

They make the investment, take the risk and in the process provide jobs and make significant contributions to their communities and the economy. They often work ridiculously long hours, provide opportunity for others and in their own way contribute to what makes our society successful. It is a disgrace to listen to a president demean that effort and accomplishment.

It never ceases to amaze me how quick the weak and those who feel entitled are to suggest that others owe their success not to their own efforts but to the greater society. They are never as quick to suggest that the greater society is, therefore using their logic, equally responsible for the failures of an individual.  In their convoluted thinking, we are only in this together when they have something they want from others.

You didn't earn the Nobel Prize, somebody else made
that happen.
(photo: Susan Walsh/Associated Press)

President Obama’s statement is shallow and insulting. It is nothing less than one more politician rationalizing failed policies and lack of vision by demeaning the success of others. Mediocrity has never achieved anything of lasting value in any society and increasingly, this president is demonstrating that glib rhetoric and arrogance are a poor substitute for ability and thoughtful leadership.

What he blithely overlooks is that we all have access to the infrastructure, the technology but only those who are prepared to take risks, to invest themselves and their resources actually build anything. It might be good politics to pander to those who build nothing because it legitmizes mediocrity but it is failed leadership.

A president who can’t or won’t unite his or her people; a president who cannot celebrate the successes of those who achieve and hold them up as examples for all to strive for is not a leader, he is just one more cynical politician who clings to power for its own sake and not for the good he can do for the people he pretends to lead.

I found it particularly galling that President Obama didn't suggest that he hasn't built his own presidency or that it was built by others. He has frequently taken credit for what he sees as his accomplishments over the past four years and on that he and I agree. He is responsible. I find it more than disappointing to watch a man who promised so much be given such a great opportunity only to do so little with it.

What a waste.

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