TOC Speakers Engage Many Audiences

In the competitive global marketplace, businesses are increasingly interested in how to win and retain the loyalty of customers and employees. When the Canadian Association of Chain Drug Stores (CACDS) decided to focus on the theme of loyalty at its annual conference in Toronto, TOC member Wayne Caverly of Montreal saw an opportunity to advance Objectivism.

Caverly is president of Baker APS, Canada, which supplies and serves drug stores, and he also served on the planning committee for the event. At his recommendation, CACDS invited Robert James Bidinotto of The Objectivist Center to address the conference on February 12 on the topic, "What Constitutes Loyalty?"

Bidnotto began by distinguishing our attachments to things from our feelings for people. "Things are not ends in themselves," he told more than three hundred industry executives who had gathered for the conference. "But individuals are; and a relationship with someone can become uniquely and irreplaceably valuable in itself. . . . Loyalty comes primarily from cementing strong personal relationships." This has important implications in the business world: the loyalty of customers will not arise from "getting them to focus on what's on your counters, but rather on who's behind them."

Citing historical and contemporary business examples, Bob observed that great leaders win loyal followings by practicing and embodying three moral virtues: honesty, integrity, and independence.

"Everyone knows exactly what a great leader believes. . . . Everyone also trusts a great leader to do exactly what he says, and to act in the same ways that he asks of his followers.

"Great leaders also don't need pollsters or press agents to tell them what to think, what to say, or how to act. They're out in front of public opinion, often challenging, shaping, and guiding it. And ironically, by their very willingness to step ahead of the crowd--even to defy it at times--they almost always win its respect, and eventually its love and loyalty, too."

Bidnotto also cautioned against "the widespread myth that every transaction must have a winner and a loser"--the predatory view of business transactions, as was depicted in Oliver Stone's anti-capitalist film, Wall Street.

"Rather than a 'taking' attitude, everyone involved in business ought to nurture a 'trading' attitude. A trade is an exchange of value for value. And a good trader wins his customers' loyalty by offering them greater value than any competitor does. When a trade occurs, both parties gain--and the result is justice," he explained.

Bidnotto concluded by applying the four moral principles of honesty, integrity, independence, and justice to various aspects of drugstore operations. After his talk, he moderated a panel of business experts who discussed how the principles he had outlined could be used to improve customer loyalty. He was also interviewed by a reporter for a trade journal, Retail Pharmacy News, who based her conference story on his remarks.

"Having been fortunate enough to hear Bob speak on previous occasions, I expected nothing less than an excellent presentation," said Caverly. "My colleagues not only received a moving and elegant speech, they received a healthy dose of Objectivist principles--always good medicine, and perhaps the perfect prescription given the audience."

On February 17, Stephen Hicks spoke in Chicago. James M. Smith reported:

"The qualities which make Professor Hicks one of the most interesting speakers at the TOC conferences were all on display at Marsha Enright's New Intellectual Forum this weekend. Discussing 'Politics and Philosophy in Wiemar Germany,' Dr. Hicks went to great lengths to provide several oft overlooked details about the rise of the Nazi regime. Not the least significant of those details was the fact that, although popularly considered non-intellectual thugs, the Nazis did have the sanction of several first-tier German intellectuals and scientists, for example, Heidegger and Heisenberg. Dr. Hicks also tackled the perplexing issue of explaining just what the differences were between the Left and the Right on the socialists' Left-Right political spectrum of 1920s, when Europe's politics supposedly consisted of the 'polar opposites' of Hitler's fascism and Stalin's communism. One bombshell from this line of analysis was that the platform of the present-day political Left is the same as the platform of the Nazis (the Socialist Right) on all points that distinguished the Nazis from the Communists (the Socialist Left) at that time. Most Left-leaning people today would be absolutely shocked to find out this is the case. This analysis was intriguing and educational to everyone in attendance. The insight-per-minute ratio was extremely high. You always get your money's worth at a Hicks talk. I can't wait to read his postmodernism book when it is published."

On March 10, Charles Tomlinson will present his talk "Whose Land Is It, Anyway?" to the Space Coast Objectivism Promoters and Explorers discussion group at Barnes and Noble in Merritt Island, Florida. Tomlinson gave the same talk to an enthusiastic group of thirty in Phoenex on January 20. According to Arizona Objectivist club member Bill Perry, "Charles did an excellent job and the talk was well received."