Sports And Capitalism

Innovation Sports And Capitalism Rich Karlgaard Forbes Staff I celebrate innovation and growth. New! Follow this author to stay notified about their latest stories. Got it! Aug 11, 2022, 11:10pm EDT | New! Click on the conversation bubble to join the conversation Got it! Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Getty Images Last month I went to see the World Track and Field Championships.

Americans love their football and basketball, but my heart has a special place for track and field and Olympic sports. At the world championship level, these sports are carnivals of excitement, inspiration and healthy national pride. On display is individual and team talent, ambition, hard work, focus and (finally) no small share of ego—human attributes that create excellence.

Do you ever wonder why free markets work better than the alternatives? Look to sports like track and field for one answer. Athletes get to specialize in sports for which they are suited. That’s a wonderful thing.

Ethiopia’s Tamirat Tola, who weighs 59 kilograms, won the men’s 26. 2 mile marathon in a record-setting 2 hours, 5 minutes and 36 seconds. Worth noting: the gold in Tola’s first-place marathon medal weighs the same as the shot put gold medal won by Ryan Crouser.

The big American weighs 145 kilograms, equal to two-and-a-half Tamirat Tolas. Track and Olympic sports inspire us precisely because they display a wide spectrum of human body types and talents. High jumpers are tall and skinny, while sprinters are muscular and lean, made for explosive bursts.

Hurdlers are lithe as ballet dancers. Swimmers have broad shoulders and long torsos. Women gymnasts rarely stand more than 1.

5 meters. Downhill skiers are cool as astronauts, at peace with moments of lethal danger, as are pole vaulters. Long distance runners, swimmers and cyclists are stoics.

Why does capitalism work? Instead of sports, let us turn to Adam Smith’s seminal book, The Wealth of Nations . Smith noted that societies prosper when individuals are free to bring their talents to the marketplace and trade their work for other people’s work. Thus a talented maker of leather boots can pursue excellence in bootmaking and not worry about glassmaking for his shop’s windows, which is the handiwork of the glassmaker.

In free markets, one plus one is greater than two. Likewise today, nations prosper when their people and companies are free to pursue excellence of their choosing. The mathematically gifted but shy teenage girl should not have her human worth judged outside her range of natural talents—in kick-boxing, say.

Ethiopian marathoner Tola would be mediocre if measured for his backstroke skills or how far he could throw the discus. MORE FOR YOU Google Issues Warning For 2 Billion Chrome Users Forget The MacBook Pro, Apple Has Bigger Plans Google Discounts Pixel 6, Nest & Pixel Buds In Limited-Time Sale Event Division of labor—the distribution of talents and capabilities—is essential to invention, growth and flourishing societies. Yet no matter how true Adam Smith’s theories have proven to be, politicians and corporate leaders bungle the idea with depressing regularity.

Their job is simple: Allocate capital, technology and people to make profitable products, happy customers who want more, inspired and constantly learning employees, and supportive communities. Capital is fungible. Technology is universal.

That leaves people as the differentiators between success, mediocrity and failure. People will always be the differentiators. Few understood this better than Singapore’s grand architect, Lee Kuan Yew.

He saw Singapore as a collection of talents, nearby and around the world, free to pursue excellence under the rule of law, nurtured by education and unencumbered by corruption. Japan’s post-World War II miracle was driven by exceptional business heroes who studied the world’s best practices (e. g.

, Toyota’s adoption of Six Sigma quality standards). South Korea evolved into a world-class maker of cars, electronics and pop music. For companies and nations to thrive, they must become marketplaces for talent discovery.

Perhaps they might draw inspiration from track and field or the Olympics, where a glorious wide range of people get to discover their talents and pursue their excellence. Send me a secure tip . Rich Karlgaard Editorial Standards Print Reprints & Permissions.