Greed is not good, ambition is

When I read about people like Stanford Kurland,  I always think of Gordon Gekko, played by Michael Douglas in the Oliver Stone’s movie Wall Street.

Greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right, greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge has marked the upward surge of mankind. And greed, you mark my words, will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA. Thank you very much.

Remember this famous manifesto? It defined a generation. Many who graduated in the late 80s, early 90s, may have taken Gordon Gekko’s words too literally. To me, the here above is too cynical, too quick-buck-culture. Exactly what lead us to the present situation. Greed is not good.

Its general definition is “an excessive desire to acquire and possess more than one needs or deserves“. In some situation, it can be seen as an incentive to work hard, get a good education, or start a business. In other, it leads to lies, cheats, ponzi schemes, and other illegal things. The problem with greed is it ignores such distinctions of interpretation.

Yet, all of the good things greed brings out – namelyhard work, ability and determination – are, by definition, not really greed. Gordon Gekko’s “lack of a better word” is erroneous. A better word to describe these qualities would be ambition.

Ambition is a strong drive for success. It requires the full use of our abilities and resources, so as to achieve the desired level of recognition, success and achievement. It is neither good nor bad, but it can be seen as a healthy and a necessary component of our economic system.

Instead of acting greedy, let’s be ambitious !