192 ◾ Out of the Box Thinking for Successful Managers
Should we forget laissez-faire economics? Is it like an outdated
piece of technology that should be shut away in a museum
and displayed only as a period piece?
Laissez Faire Adapted to the
Modern-Day Workplace
Actually, to me, what Smith has said, in a modern-day context,
makes sense. It makes more sense now than it might have in
Smith’s time. It makes very good sense. The key is the concept
of self-interest. During Smith’s time self-interest had mainly to
do with pay. According to the work ethic developed during
the Protestant Reformation, as discussed in Chapter 11, people
sacrificed their time during working hours, frequently doing
repetitious, deadening jobs to earn the money that allo ...