Experientialism!
Schumpeter believes there is a need for leaders in the business world who are either already at the top or rising in that direction to have discourse in the “classics”, subsequently it seems this will change the unethical behaviors and practices that subsist in the business world. We can safely say Schumpeter does not believe top business leaders are well read, however unlikely that may seem let us presume for a second that is in fact the case.
If we look at many of the top CEO’s in any business space, they seem to fall into three categories. The first would be your industrialists your innovators, your Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Richard Branson, John D Rockefeller, J.P Morgan. These individuals revolutionized their respective industries in a way that forced others to recognize their importance and contributions within and outside industry. The second type is the “puppet”. individuals installed to their position at the discretion of shareholders and their interests. The third is the CEO of pedigree; the individual who exhibits all the traits required to excel at the task of being a CEO. Often these are the persons who also display psychopathic tendencies; egocentric, ruthless, lack of empathy and conscience.
Jumping back, if we apply the advice of Schumpeter and immerse these business leaders in the “classics”, what is the likely outcome on these three personality types? The revolutionary industrialist would no doubt benefit and society as well, but it is also very likely these type of individuals have taken it upon themselves to read material that may aid them on their own time, prior to Schumpeter’s mandate. On the second type[puppet], immersed as they may be in great literature, it may be beyond their reach to apply what they have learned given their circumstances. On to the third personality type, given their ingrained personality type, this type of individual might nitpick and hold onto only knowledge that furthers their individual ambitions.
So then what should be proposed instead of Schumpeter’s classics mandate?
I do not deny the importance and power of great classic literature in nurturing and fostering virtuous minds. But I believe experience is also as powerful of a tool in aiding the development of character. Experiencing and seeing 3rd world poverty first-hand, partaking in psychedelics, and meditating have probably been the three most transformative experiences of my life. There might be a similar need of business leaders to live through the effects of their policies on “the other end”, eg: Steve Jobs first hand seeing the squalor and conditions of those working at iphone factories, Cargill CEO’s seeing first hand the effect of GMO and subsidized American wheat on the livelihood of the subsistence farmer, Real Estate moguls seeing the conditions of slaver-labor in UAE and other infrastructure heavy focused economies.
Another common example of dissipation in empathy can be widely seen on online forums and chatboards. The Anonymous nature and physical distance of these web-boards seems help people dissociate themselves from a certain human element that would otherwise restrict from making outlandish,cruel, and even psychotic comments.
So here my psuedo-scientific theory on leader personality types, the effect of distance on individual empathy, and the power of experience!