I’m not at all anti-business. I’m continuously impressed and delighted by the range of businesses forged by the ingenuity and hard work that produces all of the goods and services that I enjoy and depend upon. I’m all for rewarding that. No question.

My point here is that what we seek is the certainty that we are doing good with our work. Money has become the measure of this, but what really matters to all of us–including those “on top”–is the affirmation that we are doing well by others and that we are immutably valued, included, and socially secure.

Money can’t deliver this. We keep insisting that it should, but it is outside of money’s ability to satisfy this need. And in this confusion is the root of most of our problems.

So, when people risk it all and succeed, my guess is that what they are after isn’t the money. It’s the sense of importance that they hope will come from financial success.

I don’t question the desire to risk it all or the aspiration for success. I only question the confused notion that money is the goal. The problem with equating the two is that it leads people to do things that cause more harm than good, which is exactly the opposite of what we are wired to do.

I’d be interested to see which passages in this that you feel I got wrong.

Thanks, Steve.