What Has Made Our Nations (and Businesses) Great

Everyone knows about Trump’s election promise to “Make America Great Again” but does anyone understand what this means?

I suspect that there are as many opinions on this as there are people! What does “Great Again” mean? How far back do we need to go to determine what was great and what wasn’t? Who determines what was great and what is their decision based on?

Founding Values

Both Canada and the United States were established on Judeo-Christian values hundreds of years ago although we both took different routes to get there. The US was established through their revolutionary war against the British while Canada chose a somewhat longer but more peaceful path to independence.

So, what does this have to do with making our countries great and what does it have to do with business?

Foundation of our Nations

Judeo-Christian values established the foundation on which we have built our nations at every level; our governments, our judicial systems, our correctional systems, our economies, and our system of business.

Our success as democratic and free-enterprise nations could never have been built on the values of totalitarian systems like; communism, fascism, socialism, dictatorship, or an extremist religion based regime. These regimes simply cannot and do not provide the fundamentals necessary to create an environment that fosters a strong economy and nation.

One does not have to look to far to see failed totalitarian states like the old Soviet Union, North Korea, Iraq, Eritrea, Sudan, Syria, Yemen, and the current destruction being wrought by regimes like ISIS!

So, what are the Judeo-Christian values that established the foundation for our great countries?

6 Things I Learned From My Dad That Are Foundational to My Success

One father is more than a hundred schoolmasters.” George Herbert

 

How often do we take for granted the foundational lessons that we were taught as kids not realizing that without those lessons we would not be the people we are today? I know I am guilty of this so, because this Sunday is Father’s Day, I thought it would be appropriate to talk about what I learned from my dad that contributed to my success so far in life.

I grew up on the outskirts of a small town in northern Alberta called Peace River. My parents were both from farming backgrounds and were comfortable with a very uncomplicated and frugal lifestyle. By the time I came onto the scene, my mom was a substitute school teacher and my dad was in the dairy business, neither of which were very lucrative. We never had running water until I was about 10 years old and we heated our house with a wood fireplace as much as we could (but the old furnace did kick in during those cold northern winters!) To say we were part of the lower income bracket is probably an understatement!