Helping Entrepreneurs Build Real Businesses on Generative Platforms with Neil Twa

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How do you build a real business — not just a product — inside a marketplace like Amazon? And how does generative strategy change the way entrepreneurs think about scale, risk, and value creation?

In this episode of The Value Creators Podcast, Hunter Hastings talks with Neil Twa, founder and coach of Voltage Holdings, to break down what it really takes to build, operate, and exit successful marketplace-based companies. Neil explains his Train–Equip–Activate framework, how to separate business-building from product-picking, and why discipline, patience, and marketplace fit matter more than trends or hacks.

Key Insights:

  • Why marketplaces reward systems, not spontaneity — and how most sellers fail before they truly start.
  • Generative entrepreneurship vs. opportunistic entrepreneurship: building for scale rather than chasing outcomes.
  • Why the goal isn’t just revenue — it’s margin, defensibility, customer value, and eventually sellability.

This episode is a hands-on masterclass for entrepreneurs who want to move beyond “Amazon hustle culture” and instead build asset-backed, generative companies that endure.

Resources:

➡️ Learn What They Didn’t Teach You In Business School: The Value Creators Online Business Course

Connect with Neil Twa on LinkedIn

Learn more about Voltage Holdings

Get the book Almost Automated Income with FBA: Build a Profitable Lifestyle-Driven Amazon Business. Exit for Millions. Even Without Any Ecommerce Experience

Connect with Hunter Hastings on LinkedIn

Subscribe to The Value Creators on Substack

Knowledge Capsule

1. Generative Entrepreneurship Over Transactional Selling

  • Generative builders design systems that repeatedly produce outcomes, not one-off wins.
  • The business must create value autonomously through structure, discipline, and process.
  • A generative business is an engine — not a product — capable of compounding results.

2. Marketplaces Reward Structure, Not Hustle

  • Amazon benefits operators who understand the platform and play within its rules.
  • Sellers chasing hacks and trends burn out, while system operators scale.
  • The game is to align with marketplace incentives, not fight them.

3. Train → Equip → Activate Framework

  • Train the mindset — discipline, patience, data-driven thinking.
  • Equip founders with research tools, sourcing processes, and operating systems.
  • Activate through controlled tests, feedback loops, and scale strategies.

4. A Business is Bigger Than a Product

  • Products can fail — systems endure and generate new opportunities.
  • When the founder steps back, a true business keeps moving.
  • IP, SOPs, and processes are the real assets, not the SKUs.

5. Data Reduces Risk and Guides Decisions

  • Product selection is mathematical — not emotional or intuitive.
  • Historical patterns and validated demand replace guessing.
  • Data must direct decisions long before inventory is purchased.

6. Margin is the Real Scoreboard

  • Revenue can deceive — profit is what compounds.
  • The best companies scale contribution margin, not top-line excitement.
  • Margin must be calculated and protected before launching a product.

7. The Long Game Beats Shortcuts

  • Six-month miracles are illusions built on survivorship bias.
  • The compounding curve rewards those who stay consistent and iterative.
  • Mastery is boring — and that’s why most never reach it.

8. Market Pull > Founder Preference

  • Winners serve demand that already exists rather than forcing novelty.
  • Customer behavior validates truth — not opinions or surveys.
  • Fit precedes innovation, not the other way around.

9. Build to Sell — Even If You Don’t Sell

  • Exit-ready businesses are structured cleaner, run smoother, and scale faster.
  • Buyers pay for systems, margin, defensibility, and brand equity.
  • A sellable business is simply a better built business.

10. Partnership is Leverage

  • Collaboration compresses time, learning, and access to opportunity.
  • Networks unlock resources that solo operators can’t reach alone.
  • Shared capability increases execution speed and reduces bottlenecks.

11. Risk Management is a Skill, Not Luck

  • Small tests prevent catastrophic outcomes and reveal real demand signals.
  • Maintaining cash flow discipline protects growth during volatility.
  • Diversifying channels and suppliers reduces platform fragility.

12. Generativity Compounds With Time and Iteration

  • A scalable business is a generative system that outputs value repeatedly.
  • Improve the engine, not just the activity inside it.
  • Wealth follows those who build systems — not those who hustle products.

Episode #80. The Generativity Advantage: The Coming Explosion In Entrepreneurial Innovation with Mohammad Keyhani

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In this episode of The Value Creators Podcast, Hunter Hastings speaks with Professor Mohammad Keyhani to explore generativity — the ability of ideas, tools, and technologies to create more ideas and innovations beyond their initial intention. Instead of seeing AI as a replacement for human creativity, Professor Keyhani explains how it can become an amplifier that unlocks exponential innovation, where small teams can produce outsize impact by enabling end-user innovation that can never be foreseen.

We discuss how entrepreneurs can design systems that produce unexpected value, why open-ended experimentation generates more upside than traditional planning, and how creativity becomes more powerful when humans collaborate with technology rather than competing with it.

Key Insights:

  • Generativity creates exponential value, turning a single innovation into an ecosystem where ideas build upon ideas.
  • AI augments human creativity instead of replacing it, accelerating exploration and expanding what individuals can produce.
  • Entrepreneurship becomes discovery, not execution — value emerges through iteration, experimentation, and creative freedom.

If you’re building products, ventures, or ideas that you want to scale beyond yourself, this episode will expand how you think about innovation in the AI era.

Resources:

➡️ Learn What They Didn’t Teach You In Business School: The Value Creators Online Business Course

Connect with Mohammad Keyhani on LinkedIn

Learn more about DigitVibe

Get the book The Generativity Advantage: Unpredicted Innovation at Scale

Connect with Hunter Hastings on LinkedIn

Subscribe to The Value Creators on Substack

Knowledge Capsule

1. Generativity as a Value Multiplier

  • Generative outputs lead to new inputs, creating compounding creative effects.
  • Value multiplies when products enable further creation by users and partners.
  • Entrepreneurs should design for downstream creativity, not just immediate function.

2. Open-Ended Innovation Beats Linear Plans

  • Predictive plans limit emergent possibilities; open experiments discover new options.
  • Unstructured exploration generates unexpected high-value outcomes.
  • Flexibility in process invites serendipity and recombination.

3. AI as an Amplifier of Human Creativity

  • AI accelerates ideation and expands the number of variations to test.
  • Machines surface patterns; humans provide evaluation and sense-making.
  • The best results come from iterative human–machine loops.

4. Systems Over Single Products

  • Systems create environments where others can contribute and innovate.
  • Platforms enable network effects and emergent value creation.
  • Entrepreneurs should prioritize architectural design, not features.

5. Iteration and Rapid Experimentation

  • Frequent small experiments produce learning faster than big bets.
  • Rapid feedback loops refine ideas and reveal real market responses.
  • Tolerance for failure as feedback is essential to discovery.

6. Human Intent Guides Generative Tools

  • Technology provides options; human judgment chooses direction.
  • Values and purpose determine which generative paths are pursued.
  • Entrepreneurs must set the normative frame for AI use.

7. Designing for Recombination and Reuse

  • Modular components enable unexpected recombinations and new use cases.
  • Reusable building blocks reduce friction for third-party innovation.
  • Encourage APIs, standards, and simple integration points.

8. Measuring the Right Outcomes

  • Traditional metrics miss emergent, long-term creative value.
  • Track indicators of participation, reuse, and downstream creation.
  • Blend quantitative signals with qualitative insight to assess generativity.

9. Community as Co-Creator

  • Users and partners often innovate in ways founders don’t foresee.
  • Cultivating a creator community multiplies the system’s productive capacity.
  • Governance and incentives shape healthy co-creation dynamics.

10. Optionality Over Certainty

  • Generative systems create optionality — many potential valuable paths.
  • Value often lies in asymmetric upside, not predictable small returns.
  • Entrepreneurs should maximize optionality while managing downside.

11. Tools Expand the Design Space

  • Better tools let teams ask better questions and test more ideas.
  • Tooling reduces time-to-feedback and increases creative throughput.
  • Investing in tooling is investing directly in generative capacity.

12. Scale Through Enabling Others

  • The most scalable ventures enable others to create value on their shoulders.
  • Influence multiplies when you remove constraints for other creators.
  • Generativity is a lever that lets a small team produce outsized impact.

Episode #79. Rethinking Business Success: Clarity, Mission, and Service with James Harold Webb

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What does it really take to build a successful entrepreneurial business—and a successful entrepreneurial life?

In this episode of The Value Creators Podcast, Hunter Hastings speaks with entrepreneur and author James Harold Webb, whose career spans multiple eight-figure businesses across healthcare, diagnostics, and fitness. James shares the foundational principles behind his success: clarity of mission, disciplined execution, learning, and a commitment to serving others.

He explains why purpose—not passion—drives good decisions, how hiring self-managing people accelerates growth, and why systems are essential for building a business that operates independently of the founder. James also reflects on leadership, energy management, and the mindset required to scale without losing focus or integrity. Above all, he stresses learning: the capacity to welcome errors and missed targets and business crises as opportunities to improve.

Key Insights:

  • Clarity creates direction — With a clear mission, entrepreneurs make sharper decisions and avoid emotional drift.
  • Self-managed teams drive scale — Hiring people who don’t need constant direction frees leaders to focus on strategy.
  • Systems create freedom — Documented processes and aligned incentives help businesses run smoothly without founder dependence.
  • Failures are simply new opportunities to succeed.

If you want to build a business—and a life—rooted in purpose, discipline, and service, this conversation delivers the essentials.

Resources:

➡️ Learn What They Didn’t Teach You In Business School: The Value Creators Online Business Course

Connect with James Harold Webb on LinkedIn

Connect with Hunter Hastings on LinkedIn

Subscribe to The Value Creators on Substack

Knowledge Capsule

1. Clarity Is the Entrepreneur’s Most Powerful Anchor

  • James attributes every major leap in his career to gaining clarity on mission and next steps.
  • Without clarity, even seemingly good opportunities become distractions.
  • Clarity creates forward momentum and reduces emotional noise.

2. Mission Creates Alignment Across the Business

  • A mission is not a slogan—it’s a functional operating principle.
  • Teams perform better when they’re absolutely clear on why the company exists and what problem it solves.
  • Mission becomes the internal compass for decisions, hiring, and culture.

3. Discipline Outperforms Motivation

  • Motivation is emotional; discipline is structural.
  • Daily habits and consistency enabled James to build and exit multiple companies.
  • Discipline helps leaders navigate fear, pressure, and uncertainty.

4. Hiring Grows the Business—Not the Founder

  • James hires “self-managed adults” who don’t need micromanagement.
  • He looks for character first, competence second, and credentials last.
  • Scaling becomes possible only when the entrepreneur is no longer the bottleneck.

5. Great Leaders Remove Obstacles, They Don’t Control Decisions

  • Leadership is about enabling others to do their best work.
  • James focused on building leaders within the team so he could step back.
  • When people feel ownership, they perform better and innovate more.

6. Incentives Drive Behavior—Design Them Intentionally

  • Incentives must align with desired outcomes: performance, service, and culture.
  • Misaligned incentives create costly organizational drift.
  • James shares examples where small adjustments to incentives changed everything.

7. Systems Create Freedom

  • Systems allow the business to function independently of the founder.
  • Documented processes reduce friction, confusion, and burnout.
  • Systems also reveal where inefficiencies and waste are hiding.

8. Generosity and Gratitude Compound Over Time

  • James attributes much of his success to being generous—with time, resources, and opportunities.
  • Gratitude keeps leaders grounded during cycles of growth and pressure.
  • A mindset of abundance attracts better partnerships and better teams.

9. Fear Is Natural—But It Shouldn’t Drive Decisions

  • James openly discusses fear during his first acquisitions and expansions.
  • Courage is acting with fear, not the absence of it.
  • Emotion-led decisions sabotage clarity and long-term value creation.

10. Know When to Sell

  • Exiting is a strategic decision, not an emotional one.
  • James evaluates exits through alignment: mission, timing, and opportunity cost.
  • A business should be sold when others can take it further than the founder can.

11. Health, Energy, and Family Are Strategic Assets

  • Long-term entrepreneurship requires a whole-life approach.
  • James protects energy and time as aggressively as financial assets.
  • Relationships and personal stability strengthen decision-making.

12. Success Is Service—Creating Value for Others

  • James views entrepreneurship as a vehicle to serve customers, employees, and communities.
  • Value creation begins with solving real problems for real people.
  • A service-first mindset naturally leads to purpose, profit, and long-term stability.

13. Learning Through Failure Builds Entrepreneurial Maturity

  • Webb highlights that failure — or proximity to failure — often teaches faster than success.
  • Mistakes reveal blind spots, expose structural weaknesses, and force reflection and improvement.
  • Growth happens when entrepreneurs analyze what went wrong, adjust, and move forward with new clarity.

Episode #78. The Future of Customer Experience Design: Integrating Emotion, Empathy, and Data with Sujay Saha

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Customer experience is the new gold — valuable, and becoming more valuable.

In this episode of The Value Creators Podcast, Hunter Hastings speaks with Sujay Saha, CEO of Cortico-X, a leader in experience design, to explore how the world’s most forward-thinking companies are reshaping customer experience in the AI era.

Sujay introduces a new discipline — experience-led architecture — where strategy, design, and technology converge to create experiences that reflect customer needs instead of reacting to them. He also explains how to measure the true ROI of experience, proving its financial impact beyond customer satisfaction scores.

Finally, he shows how AI is changing the way organizations understand people — blending data with emotion to design interactions that drive loyalty, trust, and long-term value.

Key Insights:

  • Businesses should design experiences, not just processes. Experience-led businesses grow faster because they see every interaction as a design opportunity.
  • Prove the ROI of experience. Customer experience is measurable — and profitable — when tied to clear business outcomes.
  • Blend objective data and subjective emotion. The future of business intelligence is human intelligence — understanding not just what customers do, but how they feel, and why.

If you want to future-proof your business around people and their experiences — not just products and processes — this episode is essential listening.

Resources:

➡️ Learn What They Didn’t Teach You In Business School: The Value Creators Online Business Course

Connect with Sujay Saha on LinkedIn

Learn more about Cortico-X

Connect with Hunter Hastings on LinkedIn

Subscribe to The Value Creators on Substack

Knowledge Capsule

1. Experience Design Is Strategic, Not Cosmetic

  • Sujay emphasizes that customer experience (CX) begins at the strategic level, not as a marketing afterthought.
  • True experience design shapes how customers feel, decide, and remain loyal.
  • Companies must move from transactional design to emotional design.

2. Experience-Led Architecture: A New Operating Model

  • This framework embeds customer experience at the core of every business function.
  • It aligns leadership, operations, and culture around delivering consistent emotional value.
  • Experience becomes the organizing principle — not the end result.

3. Measuring ROI of Experience

  • Sujay argues that CX must prove its value in measurable business terms.
  • Metrics like retention, engagement, extended cash flows, and share of wallet reflect real experience ROI.
  • The new standard is “Return on Experience” (ROX), combining emotional and financial performance.

4. Emotion + Data = Human Insight

  • Data reveals patterns, but emotion explains why they matter.
  • AI can integrate sentiment analysis with behavioral data to uncover deeper motivations.
  • The most innovative companies use this blend to anticipate rather than react.

5. Designing for Anticipation, Not Reaction

  • Reactive service is outdated — proactive experience is the new expectation.
  • AI enables predictive understanding of customer needs.
  • When brands anticipate emotional context, satisfaction turns into advocacy.

6. The Experience Economy Evolves

  • Customers don’t just buy products — they buy experiences and meaning.
  • Businesses that design memorable emotional moments win long-term loyalty.
  • Experience has become the key differentiator in competitive markets.

7. Aligning Brand Promise with Experience Delivery

  • Brand is not what a company says; it’s what a customer feels.
  • Experience-led organizations ensure that brand messages match lived interactions.
  • Misalignment between promise and experience destroys trust and value.

8. The Role of AI in Human-Centered Design

  • AI provides insight at scale but must remain guided by human empathy.
  • Sujay warns that over-automation can strip emotion from interaction.
  • The goal is “AI with EQ” — using intelligence to enhance connection, not replace it.

9. Redesigning Business Architecture Around People

  • Experience-led architecture reimagines how teams, data, and decisions are structured.
  • Every department becomes accountable for the emotional impact of its work.
  • CX moves from a department to an operating system.

10. The Measurement Shift: From KPIs to RPI

  • Traditional KPIs measure output; RPI (Return on People and Interaction) measures outcomes.
  • RPI integrates emotional engagement metrics into business dashboards.
  • Leaders can now link experience quality directly to profit growth.

11. Leadership in the Experience Era

  • Leaders must think like designers — curious, empathetic, and iterative.
  • Experience-driven leadership focuses on how decisions feel to customers and teams.
  • CX leadership blends analytical thinking with storytelling and vision.

12. Future-Proofing Through Experience

  • In a data-saturated world, emotional intelligence becomes the ultimate differentiator.
  • The best businesses will compete on understanding, not just efficiency.
  • Experience-led innovation builds resilience, relevance, and enduring value.

Episode #77. How to Think Like a 10-Figure Founder and Build a Brand That Outlasts You — A Conversation with Doug Crowe

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What do billion-dollar founders see that the rest of us don’t? 

What separates those who build legacies from those who just build businesses? And how can storytelling—not just strategy—be the most powerful tool for influence and growth?

In this episode of the Value Creators Podcast, Hunter Hastings talks with Doug Crowe, brand strategist and founder of Author your Brand, to unpack the timeless principles that define the world’s most successful entrepreneurs. Doug has worked with hundreds of founders to distill not just what they do—but how they think.

Key insights include:

  • Why vision, not charisma, is the real superpower of 9- and 10-figure founders.
  • The OODA loop framework and how elite entrepreneurs make faster, smarter decisions.
  • How to evolve your leadership as your business grows—or risk becoming the bottleneck.
  • The non-negotiable role of personal branding in a world flooded with AI and noise.
  • Why your founder story is your strategy—and how to tell it so people remember.
  • How culture and cross-training can turn every employee into a brand ambassador.
  • What you must stand for—and stand against—to build an enduring legacy.

Doug and Hunter go deep on the intersection of humanity and business, showing that in a digital-first world, the brands that win will be the ones that connect on a human level—with purpose, story, and truth.

Whether you’re a startup founder or scaling a 9-figure enterprise, this episode will challenge how you think about leadership, storytelling, and the future of brand.

This one’s not just about building a business. It’s about becoming the kind of founder who changes industries.

Resources:

➡️ Learn What They Didn’t Teach You In Business School: The Value Creators Online Business Course

Connect with Doug Crowe on LinkedIn

Learn more about Author Your Brand

Connect with Hunter Hastings on LinkedIn

Subscribe to The Value Creators on Substack

Knowledge Capsule

1. Vision Is the Defining Trait of 9- and 10-Figure Founders

  • Founders of billion-dollar firms aren’t defined by luck or strategy, but by the clarity of their long-term vision.
  • They think decades ahead and see opportunities others can’t.
  • Their visions are often galvanizing, like Elon Musk’s “Occupy Mars” — short but world-shifting.

2. Action Trumps Strategy

  • Visionary founders prioritize execution over perfect planning.
  • They operate using real-time feedback loops (like the OODA loop: Observe–Orient–Decide–Act).
  • They make rapid, iterative decisions and adapt constantly based on results.

3. Founders Must Evolve – and Hire Wisely

  • The skills and mindset required to grow from startup to a 10-figure firm change dramatically.
  • Many founders need to evolve their role – and hire complementary executives to avoid becoming the bottleneck.
  • Recognizing when you’re the constraint is part of high-level leadership.

4. Charisma Isn’t Necessary—Conviction Is

  • Successful founders aren’t always loud or extroverted; they can lead through quiet conviction.
  • Listening, intent, and emotional intelligence often outperform showmanship.
  • Empathy and clarity build deeper trust than charisma alone.

5. Excellence Can Be Demanded or Inspired

  • Some founders push through intensity and high standards, others through trust and encouragement.
  • Both styles can succeed — what matters is clarity of expectations and aligned team culture.
  • Empowerment often leads to more sustainable performance.

6. Personal Branding Is Non-Negotiable

  • In a world of AI and digital noise, a founder’s personal brand builds trust and human connection.
  • It acts as a moat when company messaging alone doesn’t stand out.
  • Founders should ask: “What do I stand for beyond business?”

7. Technology Serves—But Can’t Replace—Human Relationships

  • AI and automation are powerful for operations but fail to nurture trust.
  • Human interaction must be preserved in sales, customer support, and branding.
  • The companies that win are those that automate back-end workflows but double down on human touchpoints.

8. Branding Isn’t What You Say — It’s What People Remember

  • Branding lives in the minds of customers and even non-customers.
  • Every employee, not just marketing, should be cross-trained to carry the company’s mission.
  • Brands like Chick-fil-A succeed because their values permeate every layer of the organization.

9. Storytelling Is a Business Superpower

  • Facts are forgotten. Stories stick.
  • Personal stories, origin moments, and emotional breakthroughs resonate more than data.
  • Founders should turn their lived experience into compelling narratives that magnetize customers, employees, and investors.

10. Humanity Is the Differentiator in the AI Age

  • AI can’t replicate emotion, intuition, or real experience.
  • Maintaining your human edge — heart, soul, empathy — is critical in a world of deepfakes and automation.
  • Crowe emphasizes: “Use AI, but don’t let AI use you.”

11. Branding + Cross-Training = Incremental Sales

  • When everyone in your org knows and lives the brand mission, you unlock unseen marketing power.
  • Employees become brand ambassadors in daily life, often generating untrackable but powerful word-of-mouth.
  • Culture becomes the sales engine.

12. Founders Must Ask: What Do I Stand Against?

  • True leadership isn’t just about what you believe — it’s also about drawing lines in the sand.
  • Clarity on your values, principles, and enemies builds alignment and loyalty.
  • Great founders know that the man and the mission are one.

Episode #76. Bureaucracy vs. Entrepreneurship: How Bureaucratic Thinking Destroys Value Creation with Ryan Turnipseed

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In this episode of The Value Creators Podcast, Hunter Hastings speaks with Ryan Turnipseed about the greatest enemy of entrepreneurial value creation: bureaucracy. Value creation is a universal economic goal, so how and why have bureaucratic restraints emerged, and why are they so resistant to innovation? Drawing on the contrasting theories of James Burnham and Ludwig von Mises, Ryan explains how managerialism and bureaucratic systems suppress innovation, limit consumer sovereignty, and redirect businesses away from value creation toward rule-following and control.

From rebranding fiascos to government regulation, from MBAs to corporate conformity, this conversation unpacks why bureaucracy persists and how entrepreneurs can resist it. Ryan highlights examples of entrepreneurial leadership—such as Elon Musk’s overhaul of Twitter—that demonstrate how decisiveness and freedom can dismantle bureaucratic inertia.

Key insights include:

  • Why bureaucracy prioritizes rules and efficiency over profit and consumer value.
  • How Burnham and Mises offer different but complementary theories of bureaucracy’s rise.
  • Why entrepreneurs must assert autonomy and freedom to restore value creation in their businesses.

This is a must-listen for leaders who want to build adaptive, value-driven organizations in the 21st century.

Resources:

➡️ Learn What They Didn’t Teach You In Business School: The Value Creators Online Business Course

Subscribe to Ryan Turnipseed’s YouTube Channel

Connect with Hunter Hastings on LinkedIn

Subscribe to The Value Creators on Substack

Morning Star: Pioneering Zero-Bureaucracy Organization

Is Managerialism Inevitable? Two Explanations For Cracker Barrel’s Attempted Rebrand – Ryan Turnipseed on Substack

Knowledge Capsule

1. Bureaucracy as the Enemy of Entrepreneurship

  • Bureaucracy seeks control over uncertainty, suppressing novelty and progress by enforcing rules instead of enabling innovation.
  • It is the opposite of entrepreneurship, which thrives on uncertainty and creativity.
  • Businesses consumed by bureaucracy lose their focus on customers and value.

2. Two Theories of Bureaucracy

  • James Burnham’s managerialism: bureaucracy arises from the rise of a managerial class.
  • Ludwig von Mises’ economic theory: bureaucracy emerges when profit-seeking is replaced by rule-following.
  • Both point to systemic barriers against entrepreneurial action.

3. Managerialism and Its Influence

  • Managers prioritize efficiency, coordination, and standardization over value creation.
  • The managerial class develops its own interests distinct from entrepreneurs and consumers.
  • Governments often align with managerialism to promote control.

4. Education and the MBA Problem

  • Business schools perpetuate bureaucracy by teaching uniform formulas of management.
  • MBA culture emphasizes administration over entrepreneurial creativity.
  • Even non-MBAs adopt bureaucratic thinking as a default philosophy of business.

5. Mises’ Economic Lens on Bureaucracy

  • Mises observed that, in free markets, entrepreneurs serve sovereign consumers: the consumer is the boss.
  • Bureaucracy emerges when internal rules of management replace consumer preference as the guiding principle.
  • Regulation and protection from competition further erode entrepreneurial discipline. Bureaucracies impede free markets.

6. Managers as “Junior Partners”

  • For Mises, managers should act as extensions of the entrepreneur, making localized decisions under uncertainty.
  • Under free-market conditions, poor managers can be replaced quickly.
  • But bureaucratic regulations prevent efficient hiring and firing, weakening accountability and undermining the focus on profit.

7. How Bureaucracy Enables “Woke Corporations”

  • When freed from profit accountability, managers pursue social causes over consumer value.
  • Regulations and hiring constraints insulate managers from consequences.
  • This leads to organizations detached from their customer base.

8. Profit vs. Rules

  • Entrepreneurship relies on profit as a signal of value creation.
  • Bureaucracy replaces profit with adherence to arbitrary rules.
  • This shift reduces value delivered to consumers and slows innovation.

9. Removing Bureaucratic Barriers

  • Firms should focus on removing internal obstacles that hinder speed and creativity.
  • Freedom, flow, and autonomy increase entrepreneurial effectiveness.
  • Entrepreneurial leaders like Musk demonstrate the power of barrier removal.

10. Real-World Case: Twitter/X

  • Musk’s acquisition of Twitter revealed the costs of bureaucratic bloat.
  • By firing redundant staff and refocusing on consumer value, he restored entrepreneurial direction.
  • This case exemplifies how entrepreneurial assertiveness dismantles bureaucracy.

11. Self-Organization as an Alternative

  • Autonomous teams and peer agreements can replace traditional management layers.
  • Firms like Morning Star demonstrate models of non-bureaucratic coordination.
  • Value-based internal rules ensure alignment with consumer needs.

12. The Future: Curtailing Bureaucracy

  • Bureaucracy is not inevitable—it’s a historical artifact of the 19th and 20th centuries.
  • Entrepreneurs must reassert leadership and embrace freedom over rules.
  • The path forward lies in adaptive, decentralized, value-driven organizations.