The Entrepreneurial Mind

We had the pleasure to welcome Dr. Michael Morris and Dr. Arthur Brooks (both from Syracuse University) to our campus yesterday. It was part of the kick-off for our new major in Social Entrepreneurship here at Belmont that is scheduled to begin next fall.

Arthur Brooks may be a familiar name to many of you. His latest book, Who Really Cares: The Surprising Truth About Compassionate Conservatism, has gotten a lot of attention in the press. He gave a morning talk titled Giving in an Entrepreneurial Culture based on the research behind this book. Here are some highlights from his talk:

- Americans gave $295 billion in 2006, with 75% of this amount coming from private individuals

- 75% of American families give to charity and 50% volunteer their time

- Per capita, Americans give 3.7 times more than the French, 7.1 times more than the Germans, and 14.3 times more than Italians

- His research suggests that Americans give more because they are rich, but also that in giving more we become richer. He estimates that for every dollar Americans give they become 3.75 dollars richer.

- Givers are much happier than non-givers. It seems that there are physiological responses to being charitable that result from giving. In fact, we are hard-wired to give to others and when we do give it makes us happier, healthier and richer.

He summarized his findings by dispelling the four common myths about giving:

Myth #1: Giving makes us poorer

Giving is not the zero sum that so many assume. Those who give become richer over time.

Myth #2: People are naturally selfish

As mentioned above, we seem to be hard-wired to give. It is not natural for humans to be selfish. Rather, it is natural to give to others.

Myth #3: Giving is a luxury

The working poor give the highest percentage of their income of all income brackets. Second come the rich. The stingiest are the upper middle class.

Myth #4: An entrepreneurial nation can afford to forgo service

In fact service is part of what seems to have built our entrepreneurial culture and economy. One of my favorite essays on this was the 1998 article by George Gilder, The Soul of Silicon.

There has been quite a bit of controversy over who Dr. Brooks found actually gives the most. It seems that conservative Americans give much more than liberal Americans. The myth that conservative capitalists are greedy could not be any further from the truth.

I will write another post before the end of the week on the talk on social entrepreneurship that Drs. Morris and Brooks gave to our campus.