Faith and Follower

Think entrepreneur and what comes to mind – the inspired idea, the thoughtful inventor, the self-started business venture? Maybe if you’re lucky it’s that tickle of electricity that runs through you and says hey, given half a chance my idea could be big – really big. However one defines it, the concept of the entrepreneur has always stood at the core of capitalism.

Indeed, the entrepreneurial spirit has its roots sunk deep in the history of this country. One could easily argue that it is part of our national DNA. After all, what is the Declaration of Independence but a brilliantly conceived business plan for a radical new product, a revolutionary new way of life? Who were men like Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin but visionary statesmen and risk-takers of the highest order? Who was Clara Barton but a woman who saw an imperative need for healing after the Civil War and thus founded The American Red Cross?

The list is endless – entrepreneurs big and small, men and women whose ideas and yes, their good fortunes, have shaped our lives, and our history to this day.

The stories and motives behind each successful business venture have been as intricate and varied as the inventions themselves. No doubt the lure of financial gain stands tall in that regard. Such is the enduring lure of capitalism. To ignore the compulsion of greed behind many entrepreneurial tales throughout our history would be naïve, to say the least. But in so many cases there has been another fundamental element to the American success story: the steadfast belief in a Higher Power that tells someone this idea I have, this thing I created – whatever it is – was meant to be. And from my idea many may benefit.

“God has strewn our paths with wonders and we certainly should not go through Life with our eyes shut.”

The man who spoke those words was Alexander Graham Bell. In 1876 he was awarded a patent for his communication device. Today we can access every known bit of information by reaching into our pocket and touching a screen on our phones. Call it evolutionary thinking. Call it a Divine Spark. What cannot be argued is that all ideas do come from somewhere. Just as it was laid out in perhaps the greatest entrepreneurial words ever written:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.