Business Aphorisms from the Ferengi
Posted on October 27, 2010
Filed Under Aphorisms | 3 Comments
As the Trekkies among you will know, the Ferengi are an alien race inhabiting the universe of Star Trek: The Next Generation. The name Ferengi is apparently derived from the Arabic word for European traders, or Westerners in general. The Ferengi are consummate businesspeople—in fact, they believe that money, or at least economic exchange, really does make the worlds go around—and they devised an aphoristic handbook called the Rules of Acquisition that outlines the fundamental principles for Ferengi business dealings. The rules are appropriately pragmatic:
War is good for business.
Peace is good for business.
This kind of opportunism likely won’t win you many friends, but it certainly influences people. The Rules of Acquisition are refreshingly utilitarian. Even though they come across as unpalatable, well, truth usually is. It’s helpful to be reminded of this, especially during troubled economic times. Despite their extraterrestrial origin, the Ferengi aphorisms are not out of this world but very much of it.
Opportunity plus instinct equals profit.
Greed is eternal.
Expand or die.
The bigger the smile, the sharper the knife.
Whisper your way to success.
Employees are the rungs on the ladder of success. Don’t hesitate to step on them.
You can’t free a fish from water.
Comments
3 Responses to “Business Aphorisms from the Ferengi”
Leave a Reply
I think that these fictitious rules, or guidelines of business conduct, originally written for Star Trek, Deep Space Nine (mostly by its screenwriter, Ira Steven Behr) have that easy reading, attractive quality about them which is a great rarity when coming from the science-fiction genre. At best they take on the sharp, witty quality of the cleverest proverbs, at worst they are merely amusing sales advice for the greedy businessman in need of immoral guidance.
The Ferengi Rules of Acquisition are part and parcel of the Star Trek television franchise, and cannot realistically be separated from it when taken as being sound business advice (paid for or not). As a moneymaking spin-off, some of the Ferengi Rules of Acquisition were later published in a small booklet by Pocket Books. However, despite all the tongue in cheek popular hype in its Introduction, none of these rules were ever much meant to be taken too seriously, and in reality they all need to be taken with a pinch of salt from the Alpha Quadrant.
But even though they can occasionally come across as amoral and unethical, that is not to say some of them do not come very close to telling you exactly how it is in the real world; and, as for that, do you really know how it is, or do you just think you know? Perhaps, as it says in the Introduction of the booklet, its Ferengi narrator Quark (and fictitious expert source for the rules in it) when trying to justify the Ferengi Rules of Acquisition on practical grounds says, “Don’t you wish you lived in a big house, had expensive possessions, went on fun-filled vacations? We all do. Well, here’s your chance.” However, now there is no real reason to buy it, as the rules (and their numerous fan-based additions, adaptations, copyright piracies, plagiarisms and spoofs) are to be found on many Star Trek related internet fan sites for the price of a left-click of a computer mouse.
The true ladder of success is the one lying on the ground.
Nothing shows a shrewder business sense than passing up a good opportunity.
It’s the rule that it’s always the simplest solutions which are the hardest to take, especially when they’re so blindingly obvious that nothing else occurs to you except to accept them in situ…