Tea at Trianon: The Art of Business Development

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

The Art of Business Development

What entrepreneurs can learn from Ben Franklin.

For the 100 years leading up to American independence, the rivaling superpowers of the day were England and France. But, France had recently faced scarring defeats at the hands of the English in the Seven Years' War, so American leaders needed a great envoy to convince King Louis XVI to join forces with them. They chose Benjamin Franklin, who got on a ship bound for Pairs... to do some Business Development work.

Much has been written about Benjamin Franklin and his effort to convince the French to partner with fledgling United States. Interestingly, so many of the concepts apply to today's Internet world. By observing the circumstances of the time, entrepreneurs can learn what are the best practices in Business Development which are still applicable today.