I was once having a working coffee with a prominent business magnate—the CEO and major shareholder of a well-known corporation. During our conversation, his son, a recent university graduate who was starting to work with his father, arrived. The CEO turned to me and, without pause, told his son, “Here, son, go print your business cards. And make your title Vice General Director.”
I froze. The title of Vice General Director—handed out so effortlessly? If he grants rank so easily, what incentive does his son have to strive, and why should any non-family employee strive at all?
This scene, sadly, is mirrored in politics. Lineage may be the starting gate—the key to access—but it is never the formula for lasting success. Political skill and ability, when untested and untempered by challenge, are guaranteed to fail. You cannot inflate a pumpkin and turn it into a leader or a CEO. Leadership is something that must be earned, never something that is simply taken for granted.
The neuroscience of unearned skill
In the field of sports psychology, the “Expert performance theory” holds that genuine skill is only forged through major experiences. Simply put, without relentless training, deep exploration, and struggle, there is no path to mastery. Our brains have evolved over millions of years for survival. To survive, the brain only records what impacts us profoundly: major experiences and hard-won lessons. Skill is what the brain is forced to remember long-term.
I have never believed in handing down absolute privilege. If I acquired great wealth and status, the only thing I would willingly give my children or relatives is an investment in their education. Beyond that, there is no justification for them to inherit wealth and privilege simply by bloodline. The idea that common ancestry entitles one to special status is nonsense—and fundamentally harmful to the beneficiary.
If those young people are not forced to struggle, strive, and train for their success, that success will vanish just as quickly as it arrived. This is a fundamental truth, because the necessary skills for maintaining success were never properly forged and ingrained in their minds. When business or political experience is not profound enough to be imprinted in the brain as talent and resilience, those unearned privileges cannot be sustained in the long run.
The law of easy come, easy go
The recent political and financial crises involving prominent business figures bring two simple warnings to mind.
The first is from my own father: “Easy come, easy go.” Reflecting on the recent downfalls, I find his adage profoundly true. Success obtained through shortcuts, political connections, or unearned privilege is destined to be fleeting.
The second, darker warning came from a foreign friend who was once the CEO of a major private conglomerate in Vietnam. He often reminded me of a difficult truth about power in Asian societies: Three things never align: Political Power, Wealth, and Respect.
He advised: You can strive for one without too much difficulty. Achieving two is extremely hard. But the moment you believe you possess all three—political power, immense wealth, and the respect of the public—that is the moment you should prepare for your downfall. You are either about to go to prison or lose everything.
The final warning to the entrepreneur
In summary, if you choose to be a politician, do not seek wealth. If you are both rich and a politician, do not expect respect, because you will be forced into too many compromises.
For the entrepreneur, being a successful, well-known business leader should be enough. Do not venture into politics. The commercial battlefield, difficult as it is, is nowhere near as treacherous, ruthless, or destructive as the political arena.
The price of ambition, when unchecked by humility and the law of earned skill, is the total collapse of everything you spent your life building.
