by Joe Siano
If you have not seen The
Bear TV series. You should.
For those who have, please
walk with me a bit.
The show is a celebration of
love, family, and free enterprise. Rotten Tomatoes gives this
synopsis:
“A
young chef from the fine dining world comes home to Chicago to run his family
sandwich shop after a heartbreaking death in his family. A world away from what
he's used to, Carmy must balance the soul-crushing realities of small business
ownership, his strong-willed and recalcitrant kitchen staff and his strained
familial relationships, all while grappling with the impact of his brother's
suicide. As Carmy fights to transform both the shop and himself, he works
alongside a rough-around-the-edges kitchen crew that ultimately reveals itself
as his chosen family”
The show’s protagonist, Chef
Carmen "Carmy" Berzatto, sees his inheritance – a greasy spoon
sandwich shop – as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity - a lump of clay to be
molded into the world-class, Michelin Star eatery of his dreams.
This launches Carmy on a risky capitalist mission to materialize his dream. His dream is not riches. It’s a Quixotic quest to do what he loves
the way he wants to do it. Art through
cuisine.
FrankKnight, founder of the hardboiled School of Economics, understood that a business enterprise can be about something greater than money. “Economic activity is at the same time a means of want-satisfaction, an agency for want- and character-formation, a field of creative self-expression”
Carmy is not a businessman.
His passion is for creating and serving innovative, one-of-a-kind dishes. He’s practiced his craft in some of the
world’s finest restaurants, while others worried about setting prices, paying bills, making payroll, and ends meet.
He needs practical help to
create a sustainable business.
Neither is Carmy well-versed
in motivational and management skills.
Like a Juilliard violinist in a symphony orchestra, he is accustomed to
working with other highly trained professionals drilled to perform flawlessly
on cue. His inherited staff are Jackson
Browne’s Pretenders, content to earn their hourly wages, then “come
back and do it again”.
Carmy’s gastronomic aspirations call for a platoon of C-school graduates, but that’s unaffordable. Therefore, he must transform his inherited
and indifferent crew into creative culinary craftsmen.
In The Prince, Niccolò
Machiavelli recommends fear as the most effective motivation strategy:
“it is much safer to be feared than loved because
...love is preserved by the link of obligation which, owing to the baseness of
men, is broken at every opportunity for their advantage; but fear
preserves you by a dread of punishment which never fails.”
Fear and intimidation will
not fly with this bunch. They are
reluctant and skeptical - Chi-Town tough.
They also have numbers on their side.
This is where love enters
the equation. Carmy needs them to buy into his vision - willing to pay the
cost of discipleship. Converts to the
cause.
True believers are never won
by the sword, whipping post, or rack,
They are won through demonstrations
of love and self-sacrifice.
Adam Smith, widely regarded
as the father of modern economic thought, was a Professor of Moral Philosophy
at the University of Glasgow. He
understood that people are motivated by more than ROI or big paychecks.
In his 1759 work, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, he explains:
"Man naturally desires, not only to
be loved, but to be lovely; or to be that thing which is the natural and proper
object of love."
Smith distinguishes between being
loved and being lovely. To be loved means to receive affection or
approval. To be lovely means to actually
possess the virtues, praiseworthy qualities, and integrity that naturally
command and deserve that love. It highlights that true happiness comes from
internal moral worth rather than just seeking validation or fame from others.A few centuries later, Limp
Bizket put it crudely, “
I did it all for the nookie”.
However, Smith is better remembered for his observation of
tradesmen acting in self-interest:
"It is not from the benevolence of
the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their
regard to their own interest."
Still, astute
business observers hold that it runs counter to self-interest to treat
customers, suppliers, shareholders, or employees dishonestly or with disrespect.
The Golden Rule
is the best policy. Treating others well
earns “goodwill" for a business.
Investors and
accountants recognize goodwill as a real but hard-to-quantify value in a business. Goodwill includes those “soft”
assets that don’t show up directly on a balance sheet but drive long-term
success.
Examples of goodwill include:
- Brand equity: a
recognized name that wins customer trust
- Customer relationships: recurring contracts, sticky products, or loyal
users
- Reputation and trust: the
credibility a company has in its industry
- Team and culture: employees’
know-how and collaboration
- Market position: distribution
advantages, partnerships, or first-mover status
It’s an accounting entry that
reflects the extra price paid for intangible value.
Human beings with hearts and souls seek more in life than the accumulation of material goods. They want love, respect, meaning, and purpose.
Economist Deirdre McCloskey argues
that virtue is an essential driver of bourgeois capitalist success. It is
a fundamental component of the explosion of material prosperity that our world
has experienced since the Nineteenth Century.
And the cardinal virtue is love.
From her book, The Bourgeois
Virtues: Ethics for an Age of Commerce:
“…love
in the extended sense is necessary for a company, or England, or any human
project. Love does make the world go ‘round. Robert Frank has argued
at length that the trustworthiness necessary for business “is motivated not by
rational calculation,” which would reduce all virtues to Prudence, “but by
emotions—by moral sentiments, to use Adam Smith’s term.”True. But there is a
deeper argument available. Harry Frankfurt points out that “love makes it
possible . . . for us to engage wholeheartedly in activity that is meaningful.” Humans
want meaning. They just do, and they do not make an exception for capitalism.”
He invests his time, talent, energy, know-how, patience, and what little money he has in his team. He makes big bets on his people.
It won’t be easy. There will be mistakes, pain, pushback, insults,
disappointments, fights, and failures.
But that’s how love is. That's business. That's life. No pain, no gain.
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“Half
the people are stoned and the other half are waiting for the next election.
Half the people are drowned and the other half are swimming in the wrong
direction.”
- Paul Simon
