The Infamous "Self-Made" Claim
Is there really such a thing as "self-made" success? Let's take a proverbial walk.
I’ve always been alarmed by how individualistic and self-aggrandizing Western culture can be, especially since the advent of mass media and social media platforms. One of the most common tropes we see from successful businesspeople and politicians is the “self-made” moniker, where someone takes sole credit for pioneering an influential and successful enterprise.
But are these people truly self-made? Did they make it all happen by themselves? Why do they seem so fixated on publicity and self promotion? Let’s pull back the curtain and have a real conversation.
I, Pencil
Before we venture further into the self-made discussion, I want to explore the work of one Leonard Read, specifically the famous “I, Pencil” essay he released back in December of 1958. This is, arguably, one of the most important works of economic and philosophical literature available to man.
“I, Pencil” is a piece of work that inspires both enlightenment and humility. The essay focuses solely on the pencil, but the message extends far beyond the utility and construction of pencils. The beauty of this writing is how it takes something so simple, so overlooked, and details just how wondrous its existence is. It challenges us to critically look at the world around us and adopt a deeper sense of perspective and humility.
One excerpt from the opening of the “I, Pencil” essay below:
“I, Pencil, simple though I appear to be, merit your wonder and awe, a claim I shall attempt to prove. In fact, if you can understand me—no, that’s too much to ask of anyone—if you can become aware of the miraculousness which I symbolize, you can help save the freedom mankind is so unhappily losing. I have a profound lesson to teach. And I can teach this lesson better than can an automobile or an airplane or a mechanical dishwasher because—well, because I am seemingly so simple.
Simple? Yet, not a single person on the face of this earth knows how to make me. This sounds fantastic, doesn’t it? Especially when it is realized that there are about one and one-half billion of my kind produced in the U.S.A. each year.
Pick me up and look me over. What do you see? Not much meets the eye—there’s some wood, lacquer, the printed labeling, graphite lead, a bit of metal, and an eraser.”
Beyond this excerpt, the rest of the essay details the basic genealogy of a pencil: it explains that the wood comes from a cedar found in the Pacific Northwest, the graphite comes from Sri Lanka, the clay from Mississippi, the wax from Mexico, and the ingredient for the eraser from the Dutch East Indies. The essay provokes us to contemplate all of the vast amounts of gear, tools, machinery, rail lines, skills, communication systems, millwork, gas & electric, and interwoven factors of trade that make this very product possible. It’s so much to take in, that it can make your head spin.
Leonard Read colors it far better than I care to for the sake of this post, but his point is that numerous people from various geographies, religious backgrounds, beliefs, intellectual prowess, and physical stature all make small contributions across an incredibly complex supply chain where no one person is knowledgeable or capable enough to make a single pencil from scratch.
The essay harps on the fact, almost teasingly, that there is no single person on the face of the earth or in human history that knows how to make even one full pencil. Some of Leonard’s words below:
“Here is an astounding fact: Neither the worker in the oil field nor the chemist nor the digger of graphite or clay nor any who mans or makes the ships or trains or trucks nor the one who runs the machine that does the knurling on my bit of metal nor the president of the company performs his singular task because he wants me. Each one wants me less, perhaps, than does a child in the first grade. Indeed, there are some among this vast multitude who never saw a pencil nor would they know how to use one. Their motivation is other than me. Perhaps it is something like this: Each of these millions sees that he can thus exchange his tiny know-how for the goods and services he needs or wants. I may or may not be among these items.”
He reinforces that there is no single, traceable mastermind that has caused these things to exist by dictatorship or force, essentially highlighting that there is no single government, person, or controlling institution that truly has the knowledge or capability to competently run the world. The pencil, simple as it appears to be, exists because of countless actors who were given the freedom to exchange their know-how for sustenance as a part of something much greater and more complex than themselves.
Leonard Read’s final words in this essay urge for society to be organized in such a way that does not impede on creative forces, with legal and systemic structures set up in such a way that present minimal obstacles to the free will of humanity.
The Pencil and the Self-Made Man
People have many flaws, but our biggest may be the extent to which we venture to reinforce and protect our fragile egos. This can range anywhere from self-aggrandizing titles, to the ruthless pursuit of degrees, awards, and plaques, to the conspicuous consumption we partake in in effort to show how wealthy and important we are in comparison to others.
The debut of James Bond, “Dr. No”, features a classic scene where Bond finally comes face to face with Dr. Julius No; No explains how he intends to disrupt US space launches by using radio waves, which will serve as a demonstration of the power of his criminal organization (famously known as SPECTRE).
Bond rips a cigarette, then coolly responds: “World domination. That same old dream.” (God, he always knows exactly what to say and when to say it.)
Okay, so what am I getting at here with the story of the pencil and a James Bond quote?
The point here is that humanity’s drive to be all-knowing and all-powerful is, ultimately, a futile one. Not that we shouldn’t strive for excellence and knowledge, but that try as we may, we can never play god - and when certain people try, regardless of their intentions, they often end up doing more harm to society than good.
We look to leaders in politics, private industry, and celebrities as those who are destined to show us the way, but behind the chest-beating and coordinated self-promotion through their own media outlets, are these people really competent and important enough to be trusted with the entire fate of the general population? Do they sit closer to absolute truth than the rest of humanity, or are they just better actors who know that if they play the part well enough, everyone else might roll along with it? Are they just manipulating the public to support them while they usurp funds and decision-making authority from the general populace?
Keep in mind, no matter how expensive the clothing you wear or car you drive, none of us possess the comprehensive skills or knowledge required to make a single pencil. This is both a humbling and freeing realization that quickly allows us to spot charlatans, false idols, and serpents. The people who are so incredibly assured about their own abilities and knowledge might just be delusional, and wildly enough, this very well might play into their advantage.
Now, understand that I’m not saying that you shouldn’t trust your licensed, educated Dentist to properly fill a cavity. I’m saying that whenever a politician or “business magnate” gets up on a podium and says that they know what’s absolutely best, on a moral and existential basis, for millions to billions of people, you’re looking at a very dangerous person.
Every person who has tried to conquer the world, ranging from Alexander The Great, to Napoleon, to Genghis Khan, eventually saw their empire crumble. No mere mortal can or should run this universe, no matter how hard they may try. There’s something admirable in the pursuit of greatness, but once it evolves into the pursuit of complete authority, the universe has to give humanity a stern reminder of who’s really in charge.
The Fundamental Attribution Error
The Fundamental Attribution Error is a social/psychological phenomenon where we tend to underestimate how a person’s circumstances influence their behavior and overestimate how their situational behavior reflects on personal traits.
Not making sense? I can walk through a quick example. Let’s assume we have three participants in a study called the “Quiz Game” where one person is the Quiz Master, one person is the Participant, and one person is the Observer (this is not my original idea, by the way). The Quiz Master gets to ask the Participant three difficult questions of their own choice, and the questions can be around any subject to their liking, while the Observer watches what goes down.
The Quiz Master, of course, is going to ask questions with answers that only they know, and the Participant is almost certainly going to fumble and take random guesses that will probably be wildly incorrect. But this isn’t the interesting part of the whole thing.
The interpretation of the Observer is what we’re really after here, because it signifies how the Fundamental Attribution Error works in practice. After the show unfolds, when asked who is more intelligent between the two, the Observer is likely to go with the Quiz Master since the Quiz Master seemed like the more confident and knowledgeable participant in the experiment.
The Participant, like one might expect, fumbled through the quiz and likely got everything wrong, but the real takeaway is how the Observer uses these cues to form enduring opinions about the Participant’s intelligence & personal traits rather than accounting for the obvious circumstantial disadvantage.
This error shows up all the time in reality. We assume that people have financial success because of their work ethic and intelligence, when in reality, they may have inherited vast wealth and all of the tax advantages that came with it, or their parents may have been major donors to a prestigious university. We also conflate large online followings and material displays of wealth as representations of the quality of someone’s character and diligence, when that person may have not worked a single day in their life or made any meaningful contribution to society.
On the flipside, we might assume that people who are homeless or low earners are addicts, lack work ethic, or have undesirable traits, when in fact, they may have been born into extremely disadvantageous situations with no family support or access to reliable food, clothing, shelter, and education. There’s almost a broad sense of disgust and distaste towards those who are poor and struggling in the United States, like it’s a situation that they chose to be in.
All in all, we have a natural tendency to take personal credit for situational factors when our own circumstances work out favorably, but also have a tendency to assign the outcomes that others get to their personal traits rather than the circumstances they were placed in. The “self-made” title that so many people in developed countries proclaim is certainly more attributable to luck than they’d like to believe, even if they did work hard and make good choices. They would not have such opportunities if they were born in a war-torn country, and in that case, if they did have limited success, they would attribute it to their unfortunate circumstances (oh, the irony).
Deeply-Ingrained Beliefs
This cognitive error/bias becomes dangerous because it leads to us to believe that people in favorable positions deserve to be there, which also insinuates that people who are struggling also deserve the unfavorable or unfortunate situations that they face. This is one of the many reasons why the rich get richer while the poor get poorer. There’s this weird phenomenon where those who look the hungriest are the least likely to get fed, and when it’s a firmly held belief, it prevents us from meaningful change and progress to do right by those less fortunate.
Philosopher Julian Baggini wisely stated in one of his books: “There seems little doubt that the Western imagination has too much faith in our capacity to direct and control our own destinies. It is bad faith to deny or even play down the respect to which we are the products of our societies, epochs, families, localities. It is hubris to believe that all that we are, all that we have, and all that we believe is the result of our actions alone. In contrast, when we understand that there is a deep contingency in who we have become, a kind of modesty is fostered.”
I’ve had reasonable success thus far in my career and life, but I’ve come to realize that this is mostly because of the circumstances I was born into rather than my own personal traits. Not to discredit the fact that I’ve worked hard and made a conscious effort to make my life better, but understanding that the most of the things I have had access to my whole life come from being born in the right country, at the right time, in the right place. It’s through no action of my own that I was able to have access to running water, electricity & gas, technology, healthy food, a comfortable place to live, a car to drive, educational options, supportive family, social access, and all of the other wealth that existed in the place I was at during the time that I grew up. It’s easy for this streak of luck to go to my head (and honestly, it has to some extent), but I have to realize that I am nothing beyond an inheritor of positive circumstance. Should I use this to prop myself up as something significant, or should I devote myself to making sure the next person is dealt a better hand?
The deeply-held belief that someone can be fully “self-made” drives people to be less charitable and forgiving to those who have not had good fortune go their way, and these beliefs can be very dangerous when held by policymakers and authority figures who are susceptible to emotions of greed, ego, and self-importance. Select politicians, celebrities, businesspeople, religious leaders, and others in positions of perceived importance tend to lean into this “self-made” title because it reassures their beliefs that they are entitled to a higher standard of living and personal freedom than others. The excessive need for power, control, and public admiration are destructive forces, whether they be channeled through private or public means. This is because there is no one person powerful, knowledgeable, or important enough to dictate the universe aside from the driving force behind it.
The Moral of the Story & The Reality Check
Humility hits us when we realize how small and unimportant we are in the grand scheme of the universe, try as we may to receive some kind of validation that we matter so much. Even conquerors of great nations and domineers of unfathomable wealth will end up as disintegrating corpses, buried deep under the ground, so that the next generation might take their stead and continue the cycle of life.
I guess my call to action, to myself and others, is to practice as much humanity and humility as possible, and to “play your position” as best you can. Learn as much as possible, treat everyone you come across with dignity, and push yourself to gain as much life experience as possible. Try to be in a “flow” state through the good and the bad, and understand that there are unstoppable invisible forces that guide us all through this wild journey. Understand that incessant efforts to entirely control the world, or control others, will ultimately flounder. Let the world go as it may, and devote yourself to a life of service, community, creation, and curiosity.
Let the inevitable fate of death and destruction be the ultimate motivation to pursue and enjoy everything that is good in life. Accepting that we are all “dead men walking” is a special kind of release that allows us all to realize how miraculous and bizarre this whole thing is, and to simply appreciate it as it comes. Seek to develop expertise in something that lights a fire inside you and brings you genuine joy, and work tirelessly for the betterment of yourself and humanity. Realize that you have a unique opportunity, a gift, to be contribute to something that is so much greater than yourself.
Never lose that childlike sense of wonder and fascination - it’s the true essence of a rich life.
To enjoying the journey,
Jared