It has been said that a company has no memory. And it is true. But why? And what does this seemingly simple fact tell us about the overall complexion or culture of a business?

Each company, in fact the business world as a whole, is made up of many players. Managers, bankers, stock brokers, investors, appraisers. The list goes on. Finance, marketing, management, data analytics, human resources. Each department has employees and principles. In fact, no matter how small or large the company, its core “asset” comes down to the individuals that make the firm tick. Those that get the work done.

If where the rubber meets the road, as one of my law school professors used to say, in an organization is the people that make up the organization, then each corporation is simply a collection of those individuals. In fact, as the economist Ronald Coase surmised decades ago, perhaps each individual is really an enterprise, in and of themselves. Each principle and every employee comes together in the company based on their own self interest. And the collection of self interested players work together, or perhaps fail to work together, in the pursuit of the benefits of success. The more successful each player is, presumably it inures to the company as a whole, and makes the firm more successful.

This website is about our individual pursuit of success. As an individual enterprise. As an Enterprise of One.