The Age of Materialism

In this age of materialism we are all influenced by advertising and social pressure to strive for and value things we can see, touch and consume or "bank".   We often refer to "bankable assets" in fact our value system is based on keeping track of these assets by assembling material wealth, " The person who dies with the most toys wins", very simplistic but pretty well sums up our value systems in the corporate world.

A production based society

Our approach to business and our personal lives is colored by the need to produce then retain these "assets".   To put all this in prospective, lets look at where all this societal mind set originated and it's reason for being.

In the beginning

Before the industrial revolution in 1900(the beginning of the millennium), the goods or assets of the world were controlled by a few powerful forces, landowners, feudal lords and royal houses.   The ownership of land, resources, transportation and the political system controlled most of the world's wealth.

The winds of change

The Industrial revolution changed all that dramatically;   individuals such as Henry Ford and many others, through invention and genius of organization wrested control of production and wealth producing resources from the "establishment".   The individual through effort and intellect created wealth for the first time.   Once the basis for present wealth was created, a new emphasis on creativity emerged.   It was required to manage, amplify wealth and distribute it.