Exclusive: Economist Charles Sauer describes why he wrote ‘Profit Motive’
Neil W. McCabe
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The libertarian economist and founder of the Market Institute, who wrote the new book Profit Motives: What drives the things we do, told Big League Politics that he was motivated to write the book after thinking about why he did and did not do things.
“I had nine unwritten books in my head,” said Charles Sauer, who for many years was a senior staffer for the Senate Finance Committee. “I had coffee book table book about the best bathrooms in DC–and I had all of these books, but nothing really earned my time, but then, when I had the idea for Profit Motive, it kept coming up as an idea, over and over again.”
Watch author Charles Sauer describe why he wrote: Profit Motives:
Sauer said he kept having conversations about the ideas he developed in the book, so he decided to actually write it.
“People are motivated by things, and if you can identify their motivations, you can get them to do things for you,” he said.
“Or you can get the things you want more easily,” he said.
It is about figuring out why you do things and why others do things, he said.
“It is easier to go through life if you understand what motivates people,” he said.
“This book through every chapter talks about what motivates people in different industries, whether that is in business or politics or media or even in your personal life,” he said.
“Once you have that understanding, you can actually see and forecast how others are move around you–and it makes life easier,” he said.
“T. Boone Pickens said that this book is a good first step towards your first billion,” Sauer said. “But really it is just a cornerstone for how you move through life.”
“Politics is what we see on the news–but, friends would point out, ‘They’re doing that because of this-and-this motivation,’ so I realized it was really an idea that needed and that they could grab onto and understand,” he said.
“As I started writing the book, it became clear it was really a big strategy to view life and make life easier for everybody–and more profitable.”
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