There is reason to think the most celebrated philosophers would have been bunglers at business; but the reason is because they despised it.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
The best philosophers were not academics, but had another job, so their philosophy was not corrupted by careerism.
I maintain that many an inventor, many a diplomat, many a financier is a sounder philosopher than all those who practice the dull craft of experimental psychology.
Throughout human history, people have developed strong loyalties to traditions, rituals, and symbols. In the most effective organizations, they are not only respected but celebrated. It is no coincidence that the most highly admired corporations are also among the most profitable.
I don't mind that Bill Gates is a mega zillionaire; he's done a lot of really interesting and innovative stuff. I do mind that a lot of unworthy people rode his coattails to minizillionaire status, e.g. the inventor of Hungarian notation, probably the dumbest widely-promulgated idea in the history of the field.
The majority of philosophers are totally humorless. That's part of their trouble.
Intellectuals are too sentimental for me.
The truth is, of course, that history is not completed in modern commerce any more than philosophy is perfected in political economy. In other words, there is nothing timeless or God-given about filling stations and penicillin and plastic bags.
The history of philosophy is to a great extent that of a certain clash of human temperaments.
The vast majority of human beings dislike and even actually dread all notions with which they are not familiar... Hence it comes about that at their first appearance innovators have generally been persecuted, and always derided as fools and madmen.
There never was and is not likely soon to be a nation of philosophers, nor am I certain it is desirable that there should be.