Afterword

Learn from Ayn Rand’s heroes—don’t be intimidated by their exceptional achievements.

Yes, they are steel tycoons who invent new metals, architects who build the tallest buildings in New York, and rebels who save the world by stopping its engine. And today’s real-life Rand heroes are titans of technology and finance, among the wealthiest people who ever lived. But these heroes are exceptional only in their epic scale, not in their intrinsic nature. Rand’s books—like life itself—are full of characters who build exceptional lives by following Rand’s philosophy, even though they do not become world-famous industrialists.

From The Fountainhead, think of Mike, the humble but superlatively competent construction worker who works with the brilliant architect Howard Roark. From Atlas Shrugged, think of Eddie Willers, the unassuming but—again—superlatively competent assistant to the high-powered railroad executive Dagny Taggart. Or how about Quentin Daniels, the young but—are we seeing a pattern here?—superlatively competent student who strives to reproduce John Galt’s technology breakthrough? The most unforgettable may be Jeff, merely a tramp who bums a ride on one of Dagny’s trains. It turns out he was once a factory worker—superlatively competent, no doubt—who reveals to Dagny the true identity of John Galt. He then masterfully takes charge for Dagny when the train they’re on is abandoned by its crew.

Rand herself summed it up perfectly. Speaking in Atlas Shrugged through the voice of Ellis Wyatt, a brilliant oilman who has abandoned his fields to join Galt’s strike: “There’s no such thing as a lousy job—only lousy men who don’t care to do it.”

Whether or not you’ll ever be a titan of industry, there are two core lessons that can be learned from each and every one of our real-life Rand heroes.

First, they teach us how much is possible—more than we ever would have thought without them to show us the way. Before there was a Bill Gates, we just didn’t know that anyone could get that rich anymore. Gates’s self-made wealth hasn’t been seen in this world for a century, since the days of men like Cornelius Vanderbilt. Gates proved it can still be done.

Yes, there’s that old joke (repeated by envious cynics like Paul Krugman1) that when Bill Gates walks into a bar the average income for everyone there goes up but no one is actually richer. That is patently untrue. First, everyone in the world is richer because of the value created by Bill Gates; if they weren’t, he wouldn’t have been able to get so rich in the first place. But separately, and more importantly, everyone is made richer by the example of Bill Gates—the fact that he is living proof that great things are possible, things greater than you ever would have imagined if Gates hadn’t proved it in his own life.

Second, our real-life Rand heroes teach us that Rand’s value system works. Follow her precepts (she once condensed them into just four words: self-interest, reason, objective reality, and capitalism2) and you will succeed.

At the same time, our real-life Rand villains show what happens if you reject those precepts. Whether or not you achieve ostensible success in your life, you will be a parasite and a thief who brings ruin to everyone you deal with. Look at the case of Alan Greenspan. By following Rand’s precepts he took himself to the height of fame and power, and the U.S. economy benefited from his steady hand. But by violating them once he had that power, he helped usher in a global banking crisis and the Great Recession, and now lives his twilight years in bitter regret.

John Allison is the clearest case in point. He proves that there is much you can learn from Rand’s heroes, because he built a spectacular career and one of America’s strongest banks by formally analyzing the virtues that made Rand’s heroes great, and consciously emulating them. Then look at Angelo Mozilo, a banker of Allison’s generation who took the path of Rand’s villains. Today Mozilo clings to the remnants of the fortune he built by corrupting politicians and government agencies to aid and abet his house of subprime cards, but he is a ruined shell of a man who nearly ruined the entire global banking system.

So yes, you can learn from Rand’s heroes—the fictional ones and the real-life ones.

From John Allison you can learn not only to live your own life in accordance with Rand’s values, but to teach them to others you work with. At Allison’s bank, BB&T, every one of the 30,000 employees has been trained in Rand’s value system—from the executive suite to the teller line. Self-evidently, it works.

Are you looking for a concrete plan to put the value system of Rand’s heroes to work in your own life? Allison has written one for you, by identifying and articulating BB&T’s 10 core values. You don’t have to work there to put those values to work in your life. Do it on your own, and then put yourself through the ongoing process that all BB&T employees experience: Every six months, give yourself a rigorous self-evaluation based on how you’ve measured up to the values.

From Bill Gates you learn that you must love your work and devote yourself to it fully. When fate offered the opportunity to build the operating system that would underlie almost every personal computer in the world, Gates’s competitor, who was in a much better position to grab the opportunity, was on vacation. Gates wasn’t. You might say he became the richest man in the world simply because he didn’t take a vacation on one particular day.

You can also learn from Gates that you must not only be consecrated to your work, but always be on the alert to protect yourself from the envious parasites who will seek to bring you down. It’s not enough to build. You must defend. Gates came within inches of losing everything because he didn’t know that until it was far too late. But you know it now.

From Steve Jobs you learn that your work is your own in every sense. Do the work you love, and love the work you do. Don’t think about the money—follow your passion, give it everything you’ve got, do it your way, and money will come. If it doesn’t, it surely wouldn’t have if you’d spent the same energies compromising. And don’t think about all the other people; ignore the bureaucrats and the naysayers, and shrug off the critics who think you’re a single-minded monster. If you have passion for something, there will be enough other people out there who will share that passion if you just wait for them to find you.

From T. J. Rodgers you learn that the passion and excellence you bring to your work can infuse your whole life. If you can do one thing well, then you’re the kind of person who can do things well—so you can do lots of things well. Do so, and don’t settle for less. Work only with people who are the same way. Don’t waste too much time being nice to incompetents—move on; surround yourself with people who care as much as you do, and who will work as hard as you will.

You can also learn from Rodgers not to be afraid to speak out. Sure, in today’s culture dominated by media all too eager to tear down people of achievement and fame, and in a political environment soaked in implicit and explicit obeisance to principles of collectivism, you can feel like a pariah if you speak up for freedom, for individualism, or even for achievement. But Rodgers gets away with speaking his mind, and so can you. His secret weapon? It’s the utterly guilt-free and fear-free confidence that he is right. That can be your secret weapon, too. Just don’t feel guilty about believing what you believe.

What can you learn from real-life Rand villains?

From Angelo Mozilo you can learn that you can make some quick bucks by conniving with politicians, lying to stockholders, and tricking suckers into buying homes they can’t afford with mortgage debt they can’t repay, and then get a government agency to take all the risk. Want to be responsible for a worldwide banking collapse and live out the rest of your days as a discredited scumbag? Want to destroy countless lives—many of those you purported to help? Then you know just what to do.

From Barney Frank you can learn to act like a big guy by pretending you care about the little guys, many of whom will vote for you in return. Then when it turns out that you destroy the U.S. housing market—and cause irreparable harm to the little guys whose votes you were courting—because your idea of using taxpayer risk to buy off your electorate blew up, just blame Wall Street and demand to be made an even bigger guy. It’s easy.

From Paul Krugman you can learn that all it takes to be a media celebrity is to say anything, whether or not it’s true—as long as you make sure to tell the collectivist stories the media wants to hear. Never admit error. Never admit fault. If anyone disagrees with you, accuse him or her of being partisan, dishonest, an ideological racist, or—better yet—a stalker. Creating a political atmosphere steeped in hate is a small price to pay for your fame. Go for it.

And what can we learn from Alan Greenspan, the man who knew better—the man who started as a Rand hero and then, seemingly with the best of intentions, ended up living the life of one of her most pathetic villains? Learn that no matter how smart you are, no matter how right you are, you can’t save the world by using the police power of the state to carry out your brilliant ideas. Might makes wrong. Always.

So with all this to fortify you, go forth and be a Rand hero. All you really have to do is take John Galt’s oath—and mean it.

“I swear by my life and my love of it that I will never live for the sake of another man, or ask another man to live for mine.”