You may look at the captains of industry, business, and finance, and believe that it's a bunch of people out to get as much money as possible, but I don't think so. If a man was simply obsessed with getting money, than 10 million would be enough and he really woulnd't need to commit further effort. But these men have billions of dollars. Want that in average terms? 1 million is what a person making 50,000 a year would earn in 20 years of labor, considering he didn't have to pay taxes. Some of us don't make that much and so you are talking one job and another after retirement. Even if you made $100,000, it is still ten years of labor. The person who has one billion dollars has 1,000 millions. That's 20,000 years of labor. If you are Bill Gates, you have 50 times that- a mind-blowing 100,000 years worth of labor- if you make 50,000 a year and don't pay taxes. Simply put, it has to be more than just money. Power, prestige, a desire to build another earth completely out of paper notes...What do you think drives these types of people to keep growing?
I think it depends on the person, for some it is power, for others, it's fame, and for a smaller number, it's a desire to make life better for as many people as possible. Very rarely, it's all 3.
The real question comes down to this. How did they get there? If they worked hard, created a product that helped others, simplified others lives, created a product other people use on a regular basis, created jobs, made money for other people,etc, this type of stuff motivates them. If you walk into money, it goes away. There is a reason people that make a lot of money, make a lot of money. Now, there is indeed an exception, and that lies in the entertainment industry only.
I don't think the self made rich set out primarily to make money. For the most part, they wanted to create something and make it successful. The money followed that. That is true of all the very rich people I know. They want their businesses to grow, not because they need more money. But because they want to see their visions, dreams and hard work be successful. What they have done is not easy. Very few can do it. I can't. But it is the success of their visions that drives them.
When only one person has the capability to text, it has no value. When billions have the ability to text, it has high value. The same applies to software like MS Office. Once a product has reached critical mass, and become the defacto standard. It is hard to limit sales to $1 million, when you have a billion customers. Cell phone systems, automobiles, pharmacutecals, etc. The barrier to entry is very high, so the few that enter it have a huge customer base. I live in a rural area, and my son is our local internet provider, using wireless equipment. He looked at buying a licence from the FCC for WiMax, and it was in the millions of dollars. Too big for any but the big boys - barrier to entry.
