OK so this video isn’t Shark Tank’s best but it cracks me up and does show why I like the show so much. Shark Tank embraces what is so great about America (I know it is a knock off of a Canadian show, but stay with me here). The show isn’t just about “entrepreneurship”, it’s about people who understand the power of making it on their own.
There is nothing more empowering than knowing you can create ideas for society and execute on them to make yourself wealthy, powerful or whatever floats your boat. There is also nothing more moral. The engine of creation and creative destruction does more for society than all philanthropy combined. This isn’t an opinion, it is a mathematical fact.
Our culture in the good ol’ US of A, over the past three hundred years has gone from a culture of self sufficient adventurers to a culture of dependence. The industrial revolution was a great thing for sake of increasing living standards, but it started a trend away from entrepreneurship. It turned large populations of would-be agriculture entrepreneurs into factory works. Then over the years, government intervention into every facet of the American’s life, including a massive safety net (should I say “safety trap”) called welfare, stripped the last remaining need to embrace self sufficiency.
Shark Tank and its predecessor Dragon’s Den up in Canada are a breath of fresh air!