Listen to Plato. Diversity is an Asset
Emerging business opportunities are fertilized where diverse people are cross-pollinated
Creative people thrive in rich, diverse communities where lots of parts and pieces are available to choose from.
Whether it is fifteenth century Florence, an eighteenth century London coffee house, or a twenty-first century global social networking site, the creativity that results in emerging business opportunities is fertilized in public spaces which cross-pollinate the experiences and relationships of diverse people.
That diverse communities have specialized knowledge that enhances productivity is an ancient idea. In Plato’s The Republic written in 360 BCE, Socrates and Adeimantus have a conversation about why communities form.
One notes,
All of us have many wants,
leading to Plato’s famous observation that
The true creator is necessity, who is the mother of our invention.
Plato continues that,
We are not all alike; there are diversities of natures among us which are adapted to different occupations.
Plato’s City
Let’s do a thought experiment. There are three people who live in Plato’s City: Paul, Chris, and Ellen. Each spends their time each day taking care of their basic needs for food, shelter, and clothing. It’s a tough life, always starting and stopping different jobs, never able to get ahead of the work.
Over time, each begins to settle into jobs best suited for each of them. Paul is a big burly fellow who focuses on being a farmer. Chris is good at visualizing spaces and becomes a builder. Ellen has great eye-hand coordination and becomes a tailor.
Because each has specialized in a particular job, they develop great skill and specialized tools. Each becomes more productive. Instead of each of them producing one unit of food, shelter, and clothing each day, now Paul’s greater productivity allows him to produce four units of food, Chris four units of shelter, and Ellen four units of clothing.
They trade with one another so each meets their needs for food, shelter, and clothing. They realize something almost magical has happened. Each has a unit of what they produce leftover. Each now has created wealth they did not have before. They can trade this extra wealth with others to acquire more goods. Or, they can produce three units of their speciality with leisure time left over to pursue philosophical ideas. That is what Plato wanted to get to.
Paul, Chris, and Ellen each thrive in their society. Their bounty is not created by the government, but by their own striving. Society is not the government. As their community develops, they will need good, limited government to establish clarity and certainty in how they engage with one another. This encourages each of them to specialize further, to hire and train other people in their craft, and to make long-term investments in tools to become even more productive.
How to create good, limited governance is another lesson for another day.
