Positive Sum

CHAPTER NINEBUILDING PATRIOTIC CAPITALISM: THE $9.6 TRILLION SECRET

The distribution of wealth and income, and hierarchies of authority, must be consistent with both the liberties of equal citizenship and equality of opportunity.

—John Rawls¹

A delivery truck driver named Marcus Williams had been driving trucks for seven years when he switched companies. But he quickly found that he'd never worked for anyone quite like his new employer. At his previous job, supervisors had imposed dock penalties and timed bathroom breaks on late arrivals, even when the traffic that delayed him wasn't actually his fault. So when his new boss asked him to map the most efficient route between the warehouse and downtown, Marcus saw an opportunity for payback.

“I figured I'd milk it,” Marcus later admitted, with a grin. “Twenty minutes door‐to‐door became three hours of scenic touring. I hit every coffee shop, checked my phone, took my sweet time.”² He didn't know he was about to become part of the largest economic experiment in modern American capitalism—one that would challenge everything business schools teach about the relationship between worker compensation and company profits.

Three months later, something unexpected happened. Marcus started taking pride in his route efficiency. He began suggesting improvements to loading procedures. He volunteered for weekend shifts. And this transformation wasn't mandated by management or incentivized by threats. It happened because Marcus had made a ...