>>>>One forfeits the American dream voluntarily when they work for someone else (and their dream).
>>>
>>>Do you know _any_ history? Often, the way someone "lived the dream" was to start by working for someone else, put a little money aside, and eventually be able to either work for him/herself or use the money to get an education to get a better job.
>>>
>>>You're also implying that the only way to fulfill the American Dream is to own your own business. I think generations of immigrants would disagree with you. Not everyone is meant to be a businessperson. In some communities, having your children or grandchildren become doctors or lawyers is fulfillment of the dream, for example.
>>>
>>
>>Tamar, I asked Mike if he truly meant what he said by that.
>>
>>In addition to the pure economics that you mentioned, there's also building a foundation of knowledge. I served a real apprenticeship early in my career working for others. The Fox author Mike Antonovich was my first boss back in 1988, and even though our employer didn't treat either one of us very well, I learned a ton from Mike and even a few hard lessons from upper mgmt.
>>
>>Everyone person who has achieved some level of success has a different story to tell, and it's often a complex path. But the idea that going to work for someone else means forfeiting their dreams/futures is faulty logic. Going to work for someone, however difficult, is potentially planting the seeds towards achieving a dream.
>
>Yes. The notable exceptions .. Edison, Gates, Zuckerberg, etc. tend to dominate the story, but they are the exception.
>That said, most of the really outstanding people I knew in the corporate world eventually wound up on their own.
>One my favorite recruiting gurus used to tell me that I'd know that I had made a good hire when that person started a business and became my competitor.

Don't know much about how Edison or Zuckerberg got where they did, but Gates had extraordinary opportunities as a kid that gave him thousands of hours of computer use at a time when most people had none. He didn't just wake up one day and become a computer genius; he had years of training.

Tamar