While many Americans coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic are looking for quick fixes behind the keyboard, venture capitalist Michael Eisenberg is looking toward what he calls “timeless wisdom.”
The Israel-based investor and father of eight urges others to look toward the wisdom of the ancients to grow their businesses and the economy of the 21st century in his book, The Tree of Life and Prosperity, which debuts Tuesday.
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The book is not targeted toward one group, Eisenberg told the Washington Examiner, but toward anyone looking for an anchor in a chaotic time because it’s written from a textual perspective and not a religious one.
“The first audience was my children, actually, because I think in raising family — raising children — you want to transmit values. But it turns out that the book has resonated across the spectrum,” he said. “It has resonated with technology CEOs, investors, business people, and communities of faith.”
Thank you @RobReffkin for recommending my book, the “Tree of Life and Prosperity”https://t.co/JnsW9kE3Qd pic.twitter.com/23UtsuwJXB
— Michael Eisenberg (@mikeeisenberg) August 19, 2021
“We’re living in really chaotic times,” Eisenberg said. “In chaos, you need an anchor, and I think timeless wisdom is an anchor.”
Eisenberg finds this anchor in the teachings of religious texts and said the first principles found are the perfect tools for one to find their way in the 21st-century economy.
He used one of his own companies — Lemonade, an insurance company — as an example.
“Lemonade is grounded on two fundamental principles,” he said. “One is, by increasing trust, we can reduce fraud, and, two, that the insurance model as a whole is fundamentally flawed because when an insurance company rejects your claim and your time and need, they make more money.”
To be successful, Eisenberg said, a company must have its incentives aligned with the customer.
Eisenberg also looks at the global economy, especially with concern to communist and socialist states.
“I don’t invest in China,” Eisenberg said. “Why? Because I think a biblical principle is that freedom is a prerequisite for capitalism, and that’s capitalism meaning capitalism in the sense of owning private property.”
He said the Bible shows that if a person does not have freedom, they don’t own what they think they own.
“Until the people of Israel left Egypt and were free, they didn’t own anything — Pharaoh owned it,” he said. “Private property and desiring private property, like in the 10 Commandments, which says, ‘Thou shalt not covet the property of others …’ — that’s a concept of private property that only emerges after freedom comes in.”
The Chinese Communist Party has suffocated entrepreneurs and confiscated wealth by operating under a system devoid of fundamental principles, Eisenberg said.
Other lessons championed in the book include the story of Noah as a warning against the misuse of technology and the epoch Adam and Eve as a lesson on the dangers of universal basic income.
Whenever @mikeeisenberg writes, I read.
This is another masterpiece from Mike, one of the most strategic and insightful thinkers of this venture generation.
A must read. ? https://t.co/hO5p1XYrgZ
— Harry Stebbings (@HarryStebbings) July 26, 2021
Eisenberg stressed that regulation in business is the result of a lack of trust, which he said is hurting today’s economy and can also be found in the story of Jacob.
He said when Jacob arrived at the well in his wife’s town, a large rock had been placed on top, following a great famine.
“Because of the shortage of water, they were afraid of a tragedy of the common situation,” Eisenberg said. “There was low trust in Rachel’s hometown. They were afraid that one group of shepherds would take all the water, so they put regulation on top of it, the big rock.”
He said the lesson Jacob imparts on the people — that by removing the rock, they will experience less penalty upon them — is a lesson in trust and cohesion relevant to this day, especially in the wake of COVID-19.
“Regulation is a penalty for lack of trust,” Eisenberg said. “That’s super important, and we need to figure out and get on the same page, the same texts, how to re-infuse trust into society and into transactions.”
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If COVID-19 has taught people anything, it has taught them a little humility, and the wisdom of the ancients is the perfect place to find the tools required to profit from that lesson, Eisenberg added.
“I don’t think it should be controversial that we can learn modern lessons from timeless wisdom,” he said. “After all, the Bible has more unique users than Facebook and Google combined over the generations, and it has stood the test of time.”
