Uju Onyechere – A fast-food outfit in a community was serving fantastic pastries and was packed with customers every day at both lunch and dinnertime. Then the outfit changed management, and the new management headed by Julius Edward focused on profits and neglected the customers. They decided to reduce the quality of the fast food and for about a month or two, with costs down and revenues constant, the profit zoomed.

 

But little by little, the customers began to disappear. Trust was gone, and business dwindled to almost nothing. The new management tried desperately to reclaim it, but they had neglected the customers, violated their trust and lost the asset of customer loyalty. To make things more difficult, a more customer-oriented fast food joint opened not too far from their location.

Dear reader, you will discover that the problem with that outfit was greed. They wanted to maximize profit without giving their customers, the equivalent in quality.

 

The famous Edgewater Beach Hotel in Chicago was the site of the 1923 meeting of some of the world’s most powerful financiers. In attendance was Charles Schwab – the president of the largest independent steel company, Samuel Insull – the president of the largest gas company, Arthur Cutten – the greatest wheat speculator, Rich Whitney – the president of the New York Stock Exchange, Albert Fall – a member of the presidents’ cabinet, Jesse Livermore – the greatest and most powerful on Wall Street, Leon Fraser – the president of the Bank of International Settlement, and Ivar Kreuger – the head of the world’s greatest monopoly. Collectively they controlled more wealth than there was in the United States Treasury-then.

 

Yet, for all their financial expertise, there is not a pleasant story, for they each came to a bitter end. After living on borrowed money for the last five years of his life, Schwab died pennilessly. Insull too died destitute, a fugitive from justice and in a foreign country. Insanity claimed Hopson, while Cutten died abroad, insolvent. Both Richard Whitney and Albert Fall ended up in prison, while Livermore, Fraser, and Kreuger all committed suicide. Now you may ask, what happened to all that money?

 

Becoming rich and famous does not guarantee contentment. According to Rabindranath Tagore, “The greed of gain has no time or limit to its capriciousness. It’s one object is to produce and consume. It has pity neither for beautiful nature nor for living human beings. It is ruthlessly ready without a moment’s hesitation to crush beauty and life out of them, molding them into money.” Thomas Adams added, “The covetous man pines in plenty, like Tantalus up to the chin in water, and yet thirsty.”

 

Dear reader, it’s my sincere desire that you succeed and become very wealthy. When you do, remember the poor. Unfortunately, very very, unfortunately, we will always have poor around. The key is in your hands. Use it!

 

To our success!

First published in September 2012.