The New York Times is flummoxed. Their beloved Steve Jobs is not a member of Giving Pledge, the Buffett/Gates organization that urges billionaires to give away at least half of their fortunes to charity. Oh, and Andrew Ross Sorkin, of the Times’ “Dealbook†column simply cannot figure out why Jobs has no business school, hospital wing, or Bono campaign named after him. (Andrew Ross Sorkin, “The Mystery of Jobs’s Public Giving,†New York Times, August 30, 2011, p. B1) Further, why wouldn’t Jobs join in the tech billionaire cause du jure to end polio? Maybe it’s because Jobs is smart enough to figure out that we did that in the 1950s. Children suffer with polio now only because of their anti-vaccine parents, who may well be one and the same as the tech billionaires themselves. This lack of public philanthropy troubles the Times, as if it were some character flaw. Jobs, as readers of “The Barometer†know, is no saint, but his philanthropic philosophy is a brilliant Friedmanesque one.
Milton Friedman taught that businesses should be involved in philanthropy only to the extent such noblesse oblige benefits shareholders. There’s a reason the young ‘uns love Apple products. Apple infiltrated the schools with its computers, an interesting coup, given that the homes of the kiddos all had the other operating system (the one designed by the fellow whose foundation is searching for a cure for polio). That generosity is Friedman’s idea of a good cause and good donation. Get in there and convert the kids and sell more computers. That’ll give you about $7 billion in stock options, just for Jobs as CEO alone. Porter advocates philanthropy related to business. Friedman allowed philanthropy only when it served to increase shareholder value. Apple did both with one fell swoop through the public school system.
When Jobs came back to Apple, he put the big kibosh on all Apple giving because he followed Friedman’s advice: Make money in business and let individual employees, shareholders, and executives decide how best to give away their own money. Don’t presume to substitute your judgment, agenda, feelings, views, and philosophies for the equally good judgments, agendas, feelings, views, and philosophies of your shareholders, employees, and executives. Not only that, you don’t risk offending employees, shareholders, and executives with your good causes.
Friedman was the first to say it, but Carlos Slim had a nice take on philanthropy and business, “Fight poverty, but not by charity.†Maybe Mr. Jobs recognized that with the retail sales and supply chain for Apple products he was doing exactly that. His philanthropy was through excellence in business and work. It would be difficult to quantify the lives he has changed with the pursuit and production of his ideas.
One techie writer opined in 2006, “Yes, he has great charisma and his presentations are good theater. But his absence from public discourse makes him a cipher. People project their values onto him, and he skates away from the responsibilities that come with great wealth and power.†(Leander Kahney, “Wired,†2006). Skate away? Nope, Mr. Jobs has done what Adam Smith and Uncle Milton would have him do, “Build a better mousetrap. Produce it with division of labor. Sell it, and provide financial wherewithal for your employees, shareholders, communities, and, (in today’s world) governments (and they do take a bite).â€
Mr. Jobs got so much right through his innovations. The philanthropy part he got right thanks to Milton Friedman. How refreshing to find a soul who has quietly changed the world through capitalism. God bless him for bucking the shallow hucksters who would have him do otherwise in exchange for the accolades of prideful giving.
