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AE&T Freshman Seminar: Homer’s Odyssey & John Bogle’s The Battle for The Soul of Capitalism

Posted: Aug 22, 2006 3:34 PM CDT
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Author: Elliot McGucken

This fall, in addition to an upper level AE&T course, I'll be teaching a freshman seminar called, "Artistic Entrepreneurship & Technology: A Fellowship of Humble Heroes," at Pepperdine University.

How does one go about introducing the spirit of not only entrepreneurship, but the university, to incoming freshmen?

Answering this brought back to mind that day my parents had dropped me off at Princeton and headed on back to Ohio.

It seems like yesterday I was a freshman, walking into Palmer Hall for that first time--where Einstein and Feynman and so many other giants had worked. When one ponders all the vast wealth that physics has bequeathed, from the transistor (quantumn mechanics/condensed matter), to nuclear energy (Einstein's relativity), to electric power (Faraday's Law, E&M), one sees that these humble heroes, who never thought of themselves as entrepreneurs, created that very foundation upon which so much modern wealth is built--the internet, medical technoloies, airlines--the list goes on and on.   It would be good to keep in mind their tenacious, tireless dedication to the search for and allegiance to higher truths, for those seem the devices by which all true, lasting wealth is created.

So there we were that first day at Princeton--the fifteen freshmen physics majors--and in walks John Archibald Wheeler in a suit and tie (he wore a tie every day to the department)--a giant in his own right who had helped Bohr split the atom and written the definitive texts on Gravitation. And immediately what stood out most was his soft voice and humility--I still recall two things he told us. He asked that we always remember what Newton had said--"I have seen further because I have stood on the shoulders of giants." And he told us that as incoming freshmen it was time for us to start research. "And whenever you have questions, ask the grad students, as the professors are no longer on the cutting edge," he said with a winking humility as great as his accomplishments.

He'd quoted Newton and passed the baton to us, never mentioning his own great accomplishments. So it is that those who show the greatest reverence for those who have come before, are so often those who show the greatest reverence for those who come after.

Benjamin Franklin--that original American entrepreneur--once made a list of twelve virtues including frugality and industry. After completing it, he realized he'd forgotten one, and so he added the thirteenth, which he later said was the most important--"Humility: Imitate Socrates and Jesus."

I'm currently completing a book on AE&T, and Benjamin Franklin's list of virtues mark the first page.

Einstein once told a class, "Do not worry about your difficulties in mathematics--I can assure you that mine are much greater." And he also said, "imagination is more important than knowledge."

The common hallmark of the greatest entrepreneurs and innnovators, of leaders, philosophers, and teachers, of artists and scientists, has ever been humility.

Though they were heroes, their simple humility always transcended their heroics.

Two of the required books in the freshman AE&T seminar are Homer's Odyssey and John Bogle's (the founder and former chairman of Vanguard) The Battle for the Soul of Capitalism. Both books are about living for higher ideals and forgoing short-term temptations in favor of that far-greater quest of long-term investing. Both books are about "owner's capitalism," about the risk-takers getting the rewards, about common investors reaping the benefits of the markets as opposed to the managerial class, about the empowerment of the individual.

Both books are about private-property rights, as after his long voyage, Odysseus must reclaim his home from all the false-suitors, just as Bogle reminds us that investors must reclaim the rewards of their investments which are all too often siphoned away by the intermeidaries, either via small fees here and there, or sudden debacles, such as the dot-bomb fiasco or an Enron. For trillions in wealth were not lost--they were transferred.   From the investors to the intermediaries.

And as sure as only Odysseus can string the bow, the rightful beneficiaries of the creation of wealth must be those who invest their time, their talent, and their wealth. Independent investors and entrepreneurs--the rugged innovators and inventors--are the fount of this nation's wealth, and we're lucky to have a Constitution that stipulates they get to own and profit from what they do. Students love hearing this, as it reminds them that their dreams are worth dreaming, owning, and seeing on through, all the way on home as Odysseus did.

I first heard Mr. Bogle speak at a Princeton conference on entrepreneurship where he told the story of Vanguard--the regal financial insitution which he based on the youthful idealism of his Princeton senior thesis. Back in the 50's, while considering thesis topics in the library, he came across an article in Fortune Magazine which stated that one could not consistently predict the stock market. "Why then," he wondered, "does Wall Street pay people to manage money when over time an index fund would perform as well or better?"

Upon graduating he headed to NY to work in the finance industry, and Wall Street told him that the overarching idea of his thesis wasn't all that good, as if it were, certainly someone would have done it by now!   Although Mr. Bogle was very successful working at more traditional firms on Wall Street, for the next twenty years his youthful idealism persisted. And when the seventies recession set him free, he founded Vanguard--one of the most successful, and trusted, financial institutions ever.

And to this day, he maintains,

"For better or worse, my youthful idealism--the belief that any truly sound business endeavor must be built on a strong moral foundation--still remains today, at least as strong as it was all those years ago." --John Bogle, Founder of Vanguard, in the introduction to The Battle for The Soul of Capitalism

I fell in love with Bogle's book in the opening pages where he wrote:

My generation has left America with much to set right;
you have the opportunity of a lifetime to fix what has
been broken. Hold high your idealism and your values.
Remember always that even one person can make a
difference. And do your part "To begin the world
anew."

That's a great message to every student--to "hold high their idealism and values."

And Homer's Odyssey opens with a similar theme:

Muse make the man thy theme, for shrewdness famed
And genius versatile, who far and wide
A Wand'rer, after Ilium overthrown,
Discover'd various cities, and the mind
And manners learn'd of men, in lands remote.
He num'rous woes on Ocean toss'd, endured,
Anxious to save himself, and to conduct
His followers to their home.

The Odyssey is about a journey based on "idealism and values." We love it because we know it--it's a story about resisting short-term tempatations--the Sirens and Lotus Eaters--and staying true to our far greater goal--serving our crew on that journey on home. It's a story about a poet warrior who makes home not by strength alone, but by Character. It's every entrepreneur's story--seeing a vision on through, living humbly for higher ideals, and serving one's customers and employees.

And when Odysseus gets on home, he has to reclaim his home from all the imposters--the managerial croupiers--who have been living off his estate while he was off fighting for his country. So it's a story about property rights, about the risk-taker getting the just reward, about valuing the higher ideals over the bottom line, about faith and family, about classic, rugged entrepreneurship.

And from Homer on down--from Socrates, to Jesus, to Benjamin Franklin who held the former two's humility in the highest regard--the greatest value has ever come from valuing the higher ideals over the bottom line--just ask Warren Buffett who sat out the dot-com debacle and who has stated that his favorite time to hold a stock is eternity--the same eternity Dante wrote for.

A humility before eternity's fundamentals pervades the most successful art and buiness alike.

Students are just beginning a great journey, and eternity's principles will serve them well in all their intellectual and entrepreneurial endeavors.

And just as Homer calls on the muse for help in speaking the story, so must we humbly call on the muse to help us find the right words to inspire.

I'm grateful that Homer and Wheeler and Bogle did such a great job, as they'll be great companions on this voyage on out, during this Fellowship of Humble Heroes, where the students are invited to journey not before nor after, but alongside those true, everlasting leaders who exalted all in their humility before higher ideals.

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