Staying the Course: ARI 25 Years Later
Please note: I am writing this as I listen, any items in quotes (often with ellipses where I missed parts) are fragments I am typing in realtime. If anything is unclear, please let me know. I have endeavored not the change the meaning of anything said.
It’s easy to forget how hard it is to keep any organization together and functioning for 5 years, let alone 25. Keeping the mission and vision true, and having the integrity to continue moving an organization in a consistent direction is hard. Tonight, we’re hearing from Michael Berliner, Board Co-Chair and Yaron Brook, President and Executive Director of the Ayn Rand Institute.
“We were never once tempted to compromise, and it’s easy to compromise. Given what we were facing culturally, it took a lot of effort not to water down anything.” – Michael Berliner, during the Q&A session this evening
The Birth of ARI
What are the pre-Institute days, and how did it come about? There was meeting that Ed Synder called in 1983, after trying (and failing) to get a position for Dr.Peikoff at a philosophy department, and he decided it was time to make an effort around academia and the culture.
“Ed was a real entrepreneur, a can-do guy, and he was going to do it and no one was going to get in his way. The intellectuals had the typical reaction ‘oh we can’t do that, how are we going to do that?’ but Ed wouldn’t listen and he just barreled ahead.” – Berliner
Berliner, speaking on why he was chosen to get started directing ARI, mentioned that he had organizational experience in academia and a PhD in philosophy which was important for giving it credibility. Additionally, the group felt that Ayn Rand’s name and brand had recognition and value
Organizational Leadership
Michael Berliner commented on the choice of Yaron Brook as CEO of the institute, and mentioned that he wasn’t well know when he was hired. Brook was (and is) a non-compromiser, Berliner pointed out, and joked that as he was confident that Yaron, as an Israeli, “wouldn’t that anything from anybody”.
Brook was asked by Sean S. whether he expected to see the social change he hoped to achieved in his lifetime, Brook responded “we can start seeing things change in the direction we want to see them change, heading up river… we’re moving in the right direction. We’re in better condition in some ways than I thought we’d be, and worse than others. There’s no alternative for the culture but to be successful in the next 20-25 years”.
Emerging Vision
When ARI began, there wasn’t a long range vision. In fact, the mission of changing the culture when ARI was just one employee in 1985 was extremely daunting. Yaron commented that, “maybe I was young and naive, but I came in and I was like ‘we’re gonna do this’, and that’s still my attitude. But I think its important to think in terms of cultural change, and to note that we already have made a difference and Ayn has already made a difference…. the more you go out and talk to people, the more you discover the leading businessmen in America… just successful people out there… have all been inspired by Ayn Rand. They’re not Objectivists, but they’re better people for having read Ayn Rand.”
“I think America is a much healthier country today, than it would have been without Ayn Rand.” – Yaron Brook
“In 1985 I was surprised if someone knew [who Ayn Rand is], now I’m surprised when someone doesn’t.” -Berliner
Early Memories of the Institute
In the early days, the institute was what Berliner calls “quaint” – the offices were small, minimalistic, and there were no computers… just a phone as far as technology was concerned. The first he was at the office, the phone rang, “Oh great! It was a call meant for the business who had our phone number before that, and not only that… the business was a massage parlor. When I took the job I knew I was going to have to do a lot of multitasking”
Berliner’s wife had a full time job doing research, and it was almost like, “hey kids let’s put on a play” at first.
Ed Synder, who was one of the first members of the board of directors supplied fundraiser, lawyer, and accountant staff to help get things started. The shocking thing, Berliner notes coming out of academia, was that he would call these people up and he would get an answer.
Contrasting the past with today, Berliner remembers what it was like to be by himself getting in at 6am “I’d actually wear a jacket and a tie to work everyday, it’s hard to believe… it was was, kind of quaint, but it was deadly serious and I was on the phone every day multiple times mostly with Harry Binswangers and Peter Schwartz… and we’d discuss the font size of the things we were producing. We needed to show the world that we were a serious, professional organization… we had to live up to that [Ayn Rand] in every way”.
Today ARI has 17,000 square feet of office space and 40 employees in Irvine and another few hundred square feet in Washington D.C. “and we have professionals doing the selection of fonts” quipped Yaron Brook. “It really is an amazing achievement, going from where we were to where we are today”.
Origins of the Essay Contest
Harry Binswanger came up with the idea of the essay contest. It began when The Fountainhead was assigned at Berliner’s daughter’s school – and the students took over the school’s newspaper (!) They didn’t know how widely it was being taught, but they decided to take advantage of teachers’ willingness to teach The Fountainhead. They also felt the target audience, pyschologically, was perfect since adolescents were tring to answer questions like, “who am I? what’s my relatioship with my peers?”
The Anthem essay contest emerged because teachers started coming up to them at tradeshows, suggesting a contest on Anthem… which Berliner says was a real shock, and one of the first times they didn’t have to initiate it themselves.
Ayn Rand Institute Press
They are reducing their focus on publishing, since this isn’t an area of expertise for the Institute. Instead, they’re investing in promoting books published by other authors/publishers. They’ve looked at other think-tanks, and are working on emulating what looks like its working such as finding agents and using them to establish relationships with publishers. They have some expertise in house, and they need to build expertise to increase the marketing power behind these publications when they do go to market. In the next year, they’re looking to bring someone in house to market these publications most effectively. Goals: get them sold, and read by the largest number of people possible.
This is partially a function of the number of new books that are coming out each year, and the necessary division of labor that will make taking these books to market successful.
“It’s still true that books change lives and change minds” – Yaron Brook
Expanding ARI Beyond the United States
The question was about whether ARI has attempted to raise money in India (and other countries). Yaron comments that he thinks the only way to do that would be to go to India, have contracts on the ground, and really dig in since it is already a fulltime job doing what ARI does in the United States. ARI gets very few contributions outside the United States (other than Canada), and people want to make a difference where they live.
It’s certainly worth an effort, and Yaron openly invited the audience to approach him if they’re knowledgeable about how to start making these connections.
Looking Forward to the Future
Keith Schact made the point that it probably was impossible to imagine all the programs, initiatives, and campaigns ARI would put together over the course of 25 years… and invited the panel to look into the future.
“In another 25 years, we could really be — as John Allison likes to say – the dominant secular philosophy, if the world allows us to do it. The changes have been so great at ARI that anything I would guess would probably be too low.” – Berliner
Vision statement for 15 years: Ayn Rand’s ideas, as she understood them, are being discussed everywhere in the culture.
Vision statement for 25 years: Objectivism is the dominant cultural philosophy in the culture.
Objectivism: Simple Tactics to Get Started with Online Activism
Today we heard an excellent talk from Yaron Brook about the importance of defending capitalism, and he ended his speech with a rousing call to action for the audience. “I’m willing to put it all on the line, are you?”
People stood and clapped, but I left the room wondering whether they realize this isn’t just something that a small set of us need to do. Activism, in small and large ways, is something all of us can help with. As much as I wish there were enough people who held the right ideas where I could hide behind “division of labor” as my argument, and just go on building businesses and being productive, here is the harsh reality: if you want to see the world change in your lifetime, you have to live in the future today.
In the most basic terms: it’s time for each of us to do SOMETHING. I’ve been relaxing at the pool today with Trey Givens, Earl Parson, and Mark Wickens and I asked them to help me brainstorm some ways you can get involved. If you’ve been helping advocate Objectivism for awhile, this might seem self-evident but please take a look and see if there is anything here you can add to your own playbook.
Activism in…
5 Minutes
- vote up news stories and bog posts you like on Digg.com
- add Objectivism and/or capitalism to your online profiles (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIN, etc.)
- republish content that you think is good (e.g. link to an ARI op-ed from your Facebook back)
- make yourself or your car a moving billboard for Objectivism (with a shirt, bumper stickets, etc.)
- check out out the free articles on The Objective Standard (or subscribe!) and follow them on Twitter
10 Minutes
- comment on items posted on Facebook, blog posts, etc. – encourage people to keep blogging
- donate money to ARI
- contact ARI about donating money to buy books for your local high school campus club
- comment on items posted on Facebook, blog posts, etc. – encourage people to keep blogging
- comment on news stories, or even blog a full response to a news story
30 Minutes
- subscribe to other blogs that forward ideas you agree with
- call into radio shows, or television shows (or at least email them)
- write a letter to the editor
- write a letter to local or national government etc.
More Time & Other Ideas
- distribute the Undercurrent to your local schools
- share your values with non-Objectivists — for example, art at the Cordair Gallery (not just Atlas Shrugged, the Fountainhead)
- start your own blog (lot’s of good free platforms out there)
- donate money to the Undercurrent, to your local campus club
- join local organizers that you’re interested in, and influence the outcomes of their decisions
- telling stories about your own success or people that you know – about how Objectivism has helped you
- meet up with people in real life to reinforce your ideas, sharing your values, finding people you can relate to, learning new things
- join groups like Toastmasters, where you can speak about your ideas to a captive audience
More check out post from Burgess Laughlin about “in-line activism” -about being an activist within your profession
Tips for Asking Good Questions After a Lecture at OCON
One great aspect of Objectivist Conferences is the opportunity to ask questions of the intellectuals presenting their ideas, immediately following their talks. Coming up with a thoughtful question can add depth to the topic, and help express misunderstandings that might be shared by a lot of the attendees listening. However, Q&A sessions have a limited amount of time, so if you’re going to take it up with your question you might as well do a good job. I personally find it pretty intimidating to get up and ask a question in front of the large audience, however I can tell you a lot from an audience perspective.
Write Down Your Question and Read It Aloud
The time to think up your question is not when the microphone is before your lips. Not having a clearly formulated question can lead to a lot of those “ummm”… “ahhh” moments, which most of us strive to avoid.
I’m not saying that I think most attendees do this, but if you’re reworking your most eloquent presentation until the final moments before its your turn often your question comes off as made up on the spot. Think about how much time the speaker spent crafting their talk, structuring it to keep you engaged and to help you inductively come to conclusions. If you take this same care for your own questions, I think you’ll find it is rewarding to have a speaker say, “that’s a great questions, here’s what I think…” instead of “wait, I’m not following?”
A Declarative Statement is Not a Question
Questions should start with words like “who”, “what”, “where”, “when” and “how”. Why, you ask, is this important? A declarative statement preceding the actual question has a bunch of usability issues for the person being asked:
Unpacking Incorrect Premises
If a declarative statement is made and the speaker doesn’t agree, he’ll feel responsible for responding first to any errors in that statement, before even getting to the question. This can distract from the actual question if it takes longer than 15-20 seconds to deal with, and leaves a lot of speakers asking, “what was the question again?”
Wasting the Audience’s Time
Yes, you probably are a pretty smart cookie but the Q&A session is not the time to show off. Your question really should only require a sentence to express, which is another reason why writing it down is a good idea. Helping the speaker to expand on a particular part of their talk, or bringing to light a perspective that can add depth is the goal – not making a speech about what you think is right. People didn’t pay to hear you talk, if you want them to then consider offering your own speech (elsewhere).
Get Up There and Ask
Finally, I want to encourage anyone reading this to just get up there and do it. It might not be perfect, but I think if you try to follow this advice it will help you put a bit more thought into your question, and that can’t hurt. Remember, conferences are generally benevolent places where people are learning together – so the best thing we can do as attendees, staff, speakers, and those asking questions is help each other become better at understanding the concepts being presented.
Looking forward to many good questions in the coming days! These are just my initial thoughts, I’d love to hear what you think makes for a great question following a lecture in the comments.
What the Heck is This #OCON Thing?
I’m going to be tweeting a bunch about something with the hashtag #OCON, and I know a lot of people are going to ask me what it is. #OCON stands for Objectivist Summer Conference, and this year’s event is taking place at Red Rock Resort & Casino, about 30 minutes off of the Las Vegas strip.
One of my less public, but very personally significant, interests is philosophy — and I’m particularly interested in the philosophy Objectivism, which was created by the late Ayn Rand. You might remember her, she wrote the novels The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, which are required reading in a lot schools.
I’ll be sharing my thoughts on the conference, the ideas discussed there, and other goodness tomorrow through July 10th. I hope you’ll find some of it interesting, and I’d love to hear your thoughts.
