Happy Anniversary, Masters of the Universe
Fifty years ago this month, Ayn Rand published the book that launched a thousand companies.
Published October 2007
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COMMENT ON THIS ARTICLEAtlas Shrugged is more than three times the length of Built to Last and features far steamier love scenes. But the two books share this: They are among the all-time favorite reads of business leaders. Published 50 years ago this month, Ayn Rand's very magnum opus has inspired several generations of entrepreneurs to unleash their inner titans of industry.
The novel recounts a battle for--as oxymoronic as it sounds--the soul of the U.S. economy. On one side are the "producers," who use brain or brawn to invent, to create wealth and change the world. On the other side are "looters" and "moochers": academics, government officials, and underachievers seeking to live off the sweat of others. The plot turns on efforts by dauntless railroad executive Dagny Taggart and her lover, the resolute industrialist Henry Rearden, to keep their empires afloat while the enemies of progress thwart them at every turn. Meanwhile, the nation's most talented individuals are mysteriously disappearing, lured by enigmatic visionary John Galt to Colorado, where they withhold their talents from a society they see as hopelessly corrupt.
Atlas Shrugged was largely panned upon publication and still has its detractors. ("Obviously the high priestess of free enterprise never met the men of Enron, Adelphia, and WorldCom," scoffed Arianna Huffington in her book Pigs at the Trough.) But countless entrepreneurs credit the book with inspiring them to start their businesses and persevere in tough times. In honor of the novel's 50th anniversary, Inc. asked some Rand-obsessed entrepreneurs how Atlas Shrugged changed their lives.
"Atlas Shrugged is like Shakespeare for the businessperson. The first time I read it I was around 20, and it took me six months because I wanted to savor each page. I'm a perfectionist, and Atlas Shrugged made me want to create an organization that reflected my perfectionism. I give my clients the absolute best. Most of them know that. But if they don't know it that's okay: I know it. I was also influenced by how the bosses in the book treat their employees. Am I responsible for my people? Without question. But at the end of the day, they are responsible for generating superior product to keep a job at this company. The company doesn't exist to put food on their plates."
David Morrison, founder and CEO of Twentysomething, a marketing firm that targets young adults, based in Philadelphia
"My partner in my first start-up turned me on to Atlas Shrugged, and everything in the book resonated. We had just gotten a notice from the Ohio government saying we hadn't paid unemployment insurance and they were going to close our business. They were going to unemploy everybody because we hadn't paid unemployment insurance. It was so ironic, so anti-Rand. Today, my middle child is named Kian Rand O'Connor after Ayn Rand."
Kevin O'Connor, co-founder of DoubleClick, the digital advertising company, and O'Connor Ventures, in Santa Barbara, California
