They Can’t Get No Satisfaction
Posted By Randy Jones on May 27, 2009
If it’s not about the money, and money can’t buy happiness, then what are RMITs doing it for? As I’ve said before, money is a way to keep track, not of how rich you are, but of how successful. The wealth that comes from success is how they know they’re executing. So at what point do RMITs decide they’ve done what they set out to do, and settle down to play golf or sit on the beach? The short answer is never. RMITs seek accomplishment, and derive their happiness from their achievements. But just because they are happy does not mean they are satisfied. RMITs are questers, always searching for that next mountain to climb or business to build. Despite his billions of net worth, David Rubenstein, richest man in Washington, D.C., and head of private equity firm The Carlyle Group, joked, “I’m Jewish and I’m not supposed to be happy. It would make me unhappy to be happy because, I would realize that I’m not trying hard enough.” In our interview, I asked him how much is enough: he quoted Felix Rohatyn’s famous answer to that question: “Twice as much as you currently have.” He added, “Once you get on the merry-go-round of making money, it is very difficult to get off of it.” RMITs are like kids on a merry-go-round; they want to keep going again and again.
Psychologist Rob Reiner, of New York University Medical Center, says, “We’re neurologically wired to never be content.” This is especially true of RMITs; if they were satisfied with their accomplishments, they would have nothing to strive for, and without that, they get bored, bored, bored. If they have to, once they’ve achieved all they can with one venture, they’ll start all over again. They can never be totally satisfied, because feeling satisfied, in their minds, would mean the fun is over. “I believe in the Buddhist philosophy that the journey is the reward,” Pat McGovern, the richest man in Hollis, New Hampshire, told me. He founded IDG, the world’s leading technology publishing, research, and event management company, in 1964. More than 40 years later, McGovern’s privately held company has revenues in excess of $3 billion and he has no desire to sell: “Why would I want something to end that is so much fun and continues to bring me such pleasure and such rewards?”
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