c.Figallo

On a couple of occasions during the late 90s I was the giddy recipient of stock options. All around me, it seemed, peers were becoming instant millionaires. So I figured I was in line for the same fortune. Not so.

By the year 2001 I began to understand just how destructive the headlong rush into IPOs had become, not only to the way we ran our businesses, but to the valuation of all businesses.

There may be shortcuts to wealth for a select minority – and for outright criminals – but for the rest of us, we need to produce products and services that deliver real value.

In an interview with Fast Company, accompanying the release of his new book Life Inc.: How the World Became a Corporation and How to Take It Back (Random House), Rushkoff lays out some ideas that seem to fit the times.

Definitely don’t go public. Not until you are truly ready to leave your business. Going public means selling your business to disinterested shareholders. All they are going to care about is the short-term asset value of your shares. So if you care about any other aspect of your business–its customers, employees, industry, or even just its longevity and sustainability as a business–then don’t go public. Shareholders will demand growth at the business’s expense.

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The rest of the world is no longer going to respect the monopolies our governments declare. So it’s time to compete again. This means America learning how to do something instead of simply outsourcing and creating debt.

It won’t be easy, but it could actually be fun. Imagine competence as a viable alternative.