Ambitious Farmer/ Greedy Farmer??

[Pilatus]

Another thread concerning Sir James Dyson,prompts me to ask what is the difference between an ambitious farmer/businessman and a greedy farmer/ businessman.

Forgetting agriculture, are people like Sir Phillip Green, the original Stobart, the guy that started Tesco,etc etc, ambitious or greedy OR do they overlap.

Some ambitions are acres,cow numbers,sheep numbers pig nos etc,some are shops/stores, some are trucks ,in Maersk case it’s ships.
The Indian guy who’s name escapes me is steelworks.
What about founders of Amazon ?
Oh where does Bill Gates fit ambitious or greedy?
Ryanair guy ambitious / greedy?
The list can go on and on.

 

[Alicecow]

Another thread concerning Sir James Dyson,prompts me to ask what is the difference between an ambitious farmer/businessman and a greedy farmer/
Oh where does Bill Gates fit ambitious or greedy?
Ryanair guy ambitious / greedy?
The list can go on and on.

 

[Thick Farmer]

Another thread concerning Sir James Dyson,prompts me to ask what is the difference between an ambitious farmer/businessman and a greedy farmer/ businessman.

Forgetting agriculture, are people like Sir Phillip Green, the original Stobart, the guy that started Tesco,etc etc, ambitious or greedy OR do they overlap.

Some ambitions are acres,some are shops/stores, some are trucks ,in Maersk case it’s ships.
The Indian guy who’s name escapes me is steelworks.
What about founders of Amazon ?
Oh where does Bill Gates fit ambitious or greedy?
Ryanair guy ambitious / greedy?
The list can go on and on.

If you like to see people succeed then they’re ambitious.

If you hate to see people succeed they’re greedy.

 

[Spud]

I note that Sir Richard Branson isn't on your list? FWIW I think its more about how such people go about building their fortune, than how rich they get. One that tramples on others relentlessly to get to the top I would say is so ruthlessly ambitious, that it becomes greed. (The more you have the more you want) Invariable a few competitors etc will get nipped by an ambitious business in its pursuit of progress, but those that (from the outside at least) that go about things in a 'nicer way' I'd maybe say have a drive to survive, thrive and do well. Money maybe not been the main objective, though nontheless essential to survival. JCB?

All that said, all these folk buying land for tax breaks, rather than simply to expand a farming business organically, test my patience. It is they who keep land prices unaffordable for proper farmers, they who will get said facilities closed, and they who have the wherewithall to swiftly shift brass to the next tax freindly haven. They, make no mistake, are proper, category one, gold star greedy buggers. I rank tax dodging footballers etc in the same bracket - who cares if they have to pay 50% tax, they're still taking home a hundred grand a week (or whatever)

#stepsoffhissoapbox

 

[Werzle]

Everybody gets a touch of the green eyed monster at times but what would we all do if our lotto numbers came up? Buy acres upon acres , no doubt.

 

[Pilatus]

I note that Sir Richard Branson isn't on your list? FWIW I think its more about how such people go about building their fortune, than how rich they get. One that tramples on others relentlessly to get to the top I would say is so ruthlessly ambitious, that it becomes greed. (The more you have the more you want) Invariable a few competitors etc will get nipped by an ambitious business in its pursuit of progress, but those that (from the outside at least) that go about things in a 'nicer way' I'd maybe say have a drive to survive, thrive and do well. Money maybe not been the main objective, though nontheless essential to survival. JCB?

All that said, all these folk buying land for tax breaks, rather than simply to expand a farming business organically, test my patience. It is they who keep land prices unaffordable for proper farmers, they who will get said facilities closed, and they who have the wherewithall to swiftly shift brass to the next tax freindly haven. They, make no mistake, are proper, category one, gold star greedy buggers. I rank tax dodging footballers etc in the same bracket - who cares if they have to pay 50% tax, they're still taking home a hundred grand a week (or whatever)

#stepsoffhissoapbox

I did say the list could go on and on.

 

[unlacedgecko]

Within the haulage industry Stobart is hated for his ruthless tactics which sent many small operators bust.

Within the retail world Tesco are hated for the way they have eviscerated the high street.

I don't know much about IT, but my friends in the business have a pretty dim view of Mircosoft.

Someone once told me that to make £1mil you've got to take £1mil off other people. That could be £1 off a million people or £1mil off 1 person.

In all spheres of business and life there will be winners and losers. As said, the difference between greed and ambition is merely perspective.

I own no land. By the time I die I intend to have many thousands of acres. Does that make me greedy or ambitious? I don't care, it's what I want and I will do it.

 

[SLA]

Probably mostly perspective but if you buy up 1000's of acres and throw shed loads of cash at it and show your doing a good job of running it you'll get more respect than telling people how many millions it loses you every year. That I suspect is what winds people up, there is no shortage of good farmers wanting to farm who would be earning a living.

 

[Smiffy101]

Surely it depends on your motives
I heard an interview with sir Richard branson and his motives for everything seem to be to provide better service for people or to do something better than anyone else where as the CEO's of carrilion where out to line there pockets at everyone elses expense
Ive met quite a few ambitious people where wealth is a complete by product of achieving something else

 

[Victor]

Mark ch 8 v 36
For what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul

 

[Kiwi Pete]

I'm greedy.

I have no ambition at all to own more land than 100 acres, but can't wean myself off the stockmarket.
If I could, I'd erase our debt but then life would be boring and I'd start to envy others 'as a byproduct'.

But, I know I'm greedy, because my ambition is to make as much money as possible, whether through trading stocks or livestock, working and contracting - I both detest money and love what it can do.

So the distinction, I believe, is perspective.

 

[TripleSix]

Interesting the OP mentions Amazon.

Everyone should have a look at the Amazon business model, it's dead interesting.

They never make a profit.
They don't have money in the bank, if they start showing profit they find something to spend it on, eg comission a TV series.

Keeps it moving forwards and expanding.

Not sat with money in the bank...

 

[Exfarmer]

Amazon have a very large anount of cash for a company with no money, about $22,000,000,000

 

[Pilatus]

Amazon have a very large anount of cash for a company with no money, about $22,000,000,000

And treat staff like robots!!??

 

[Bossfarmer]

one thing i dislike more than a greedy farmer is a jealous one, i am jealous of none of the big farmers going about including dyson hes at the top of the tree in my opinion if anyone on here can achieve what he has then i will congratulate you!

 

[Campbell]

Walter P [of this parish] had an answer to this question, something like....Greed is entirely selfish, Ambition is usually shared.

 

[Goweresque]

Someone once told me that to make £1mil you've got to take £1mil off other people. That could be £1 off a million people or £1mil off 1 person.

Nonsense. The economy is not a fixed sum game - ie I make a pound, you lose a pound. If it was it could never grow. Profit is made by adding value, if you add more value than your competitor then, yes he may go bust, but (crucially) there's more value (or wealth if you like) in society as a result. If we didn't do this we'd still be living in caves using stone axes, as the man who discovered bronze would have been told 'Stop that, you're putting all the stone axe makers out of business!'

 

[Werzle]

I was always told making your first million was the hardest, your 2nd 3rd and 4th etc was easy.

 

[TheTallGuy]

Taking the example of Tesco, Jack Cohen was as canny a dealer as could be & had ambition that he constrained, he had a solid work ethic and largely sought to ensure that his workforce worked hard & was rewarded in line with that. Ian Maclaurin who took control in the 70s & 80s just about stayed within ambition, but his successor, Terry Leahy, quickly shot over to greed and aggressive expansionism with the results we see today - Philip Clarke & the dodgy accounting are attributable to the aggressive/greedy culture that Leahy promoted. Sadly the current crop under Drastic Dave are cut from the same cloth & all seeking to maximise their bonus and share options regardless of how its achieved. It's the same approach used by many large companies that are more interested is satisfying the stock markets' desire for continuous growth rather than sustainable ethical profit.

I'm not particularly ambitious or greedy & as long as I can have a decent standard of living then I am happy - should I win the Euromillions tonight, I would probably invest in a fair bit of land because it's a fairly safe investment - I probably only lease it out though as I'd be too busy with the yacht to bother managing it!

 

[Derrick Hughes]

the only way to sort it is put envy and greed in the ring and let them punch it out