There’s a saying, attributed at various times to Lenin or Trotsky (same difference!): “You may not like war, but war likes you.” I can’t authenticate the source of it, so at the risk of taking it out of context, I take away this lesson: you may have to deal with some unpleasant facts of life, whether or not you want to, or are ready for it.
I thought of that when I read about the political problems faced by Apple.
Apple has political problems? Not yet, exactly. It could, though. What has it done? It has for the most part chosen to ignore the political circus.
But unfortunately, focusing on ways to excel and in so doing crush the competition may not be enough in 21st century America. As David Boaz suggests, “what does the ruling class say to productive people who try to just avoid politics and make stuff? Nice little company ya got there, shame if anything happened to it.”
As he says, “Every successful company finds out that it can’t just work on improving its products and serving consumers. Sooner or later, it’s going to have to deal with politicians and regulators sniffing around its business.“