Capitalism Isn't the Problem

Is capitalism really the problem, or is it how we've been taught to practice it? In this episode, we break down the difference between transactional capitalism (working to take, to own, to amass) and transformational capitalism (working to give, to create real value, to serve). We'll explore the "threshold" concept, the point where your basic needs are met and your work should shift from survival mode into purpose-driven contribution, and why most of us keep pushing that threshold further away out of fear and conditioning. This isn't an anti-money conversation. It's an invitation to ask yourself one honest question: have you already crossed the line into "enough," and are you still working like you haven't? Tune in for a grounded, no-BS look at redefining what work is for.

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Transcript

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I'm your host, Olivier, and this is the Do Happy Work Podcast, where we look at work in a different, more natural, and more peaceful way. Welcome to another episode of the Do Happy Work Podcast. My name is Olivier Egli. I'm your host and your voice of nature in business. And today I want to cut my teeth on a problematic topic, and that's capitalism, and why there is a version of capitalism that would really work the best for us. Now, capitalism is difficult because it polarizes people. There are the ones that support it and now the ones that are completely against it and seeing it the source of all our economic problems. And I think both of them are correct, but they are not correct in thinking that the capitalism that we have is the only option, the only form of capitalism that we can have. And now I want to make one thing very clear, and I've said this before, I am not against money. I think money is very important and it's a very beautiful thing when we see it as what it is, as a tool that can amplify our attitude, our intention, and our work. I do not agree with money being the reason for our work. I do not agree when we put money in the forefront of our doings. And here's why. When we embrace an attitude of possession, of having things, of amassing things, when we put that in the forefront of our life, when we make everything that we do about owning things, then we admit that our life is only about that. And then of course our definition of work changes. It changes from something that we are here to express towards something that's supposed to bring us something. So we shift from giving towards taking. And that's the capitalism that we have today. The capitalism that we have in all of Western societies are what I call the transactional capitalism, where we do things to own things through the actions of transactions. So we transact in order to get more. And that is a problem, of course. I agree with this because it means that whatever we do, whatever value we create, only serves us. And that is the capital that we make. We translate the potential that we have into profit for us. And in such a perspective, in such a system, there's always a winner and there's always a loser. That is inherently true to transactional capitalism. There are no two ways about it. You will always have somebody who wins in the equation, you have someone who loses, and thereby it's not an equation. That's the problem that transactional capitalism presents. However, think about it. We have learned very early on in our lives that that's the way the world works. We have introduced a scarcity mentality at the very base of ourselves that says that if you want to have a good life, you gotta have things. You gotta earn a living. We have all these expressions that are tied to our ability to take things and to make money. So with that, we have created an all-over mentality that cannot step outside of transactional capitalism. It's almost as if that was the way of life. It is correct that you must earn a living for the things that you need, for the absolute necessities in your life. I will be the last one to tell you not to earn money in order to take care of yourself and your family. It's a necessity. We need food and shelter and health and safety, we need those basic things. They need to be secured. But now here comes the big question. What then? What happens once we cross that threshold? And that's exactly what shows us in what kind of society that we live. It's also what shows us in what kind of mentality are we living. Because if once we cross the threshold of bare necessities and we're still engaged in transactional capitalistic perspectives, if we do this, it means that we are effectively stuck. But we endorse this system. We don't understand that once we cross the threshold of necessities, we have to shift gears. And I repeat this concept over and over. The shifting of gears is something very, very essential in the natural way of living and doing. It's that once we recognize that we're safe, once we recognize that we have passed the threshold of survivalist living, we have to upshift into a living standard of thriving. And thriving is different from surviving. But we don't change our work attitude once we cross this threshold. And that that makes us that makes us greedy. That makes us fall into perspectives on work that are about amassment. This is how we we go about our work, even though we have enough in greedy ways, in ways that hurt people, in ways where we still want to win. And when powerful people, people with a lot of money, with a lot of wealth at their disposal, become greedy, become uh driven by by this false necessity, this artificially upheld necessity to have more, they have a lot of leverage. And that's how they start hurting people. That's how they start hurting people in bigger and bigger masses. And that's what we see today. If, on the other hand, we were able to admit that we have passed the threshold and we're able to shift gears towards driving, it would mean that we could finally let go of this attitude of amassment. We could let go of the scarcity mentality that made us work to earn money, work where we um translate time into money, where we sell our time for money. We could finally shift and use the time and our effort and our energy to convert what we have to give into value for the world. And that is a very, very essential thing because I have said many times before, I do not expect anyone who has been hit with hard hard times, who has been hit with hardship to go out there and embrace their happy work. I don't tell anyone who has a hard time feeding themselves or their family to go out there and build a business that takes care of other people. That is bullshit. That's inverted hypocrisy. You need to take care of yourself first. It's like the oxygen mask analogy. You have to make sure that you can breathe before you can become breath for someone else. But once you have oxygen, what do you do? Are you still gonna keep amassing oxygen masks, sucking in the air that other people need to breathe? Or are you gonna start to finally share yourself, be a light to others, be a light to the world? That is the essential question. And this is why I say capitalism is not inherently bad. It's actually a very solid underlying structure that would permit for our beautiful world if we used it in the right way, if we admit it that we can use capitalist structures as we know them to pass the threshold of survival towards thriving, and then and then we embrace a different kind of capitalism, the one that I call transformational. Once we pass this threshold where we are able to take care of our necessities, the capitalist structure should support us in giving ourselves away. Then we have to build businesses that actually create value, they take care of people, for which we get paid. So it's still a capitalist structure. It's just not one where the returns are used to take care of our necessities. Now the returns are used so that we can build better value for others, so that we can be of more use to the world, so that we can be more expressive, so that we can become the artists we have always been. Because let's be real. You cannot create art, you cannot share your art if you cannot take care of your health first. If you're not okay, there is no incentive, there's absolutely no incentive for you to show up with your beautiful art. There's none because you too worried, you are stretched far too thin. But once that's taken care of, you need to be that responsible person and fulfill your obligation of sharing your art, of refining your art, of building businesses and doing work that actually creates value in the world. You have to become that apple tree that is in that is inside of you. You have to allow for that sapling to grow and to give its fruit to the world once you cross that threshold. Now, of course, a lot of people are great at fooling themselves into believing that they have not reached that threshold. That's where you have to sit down and actually study your own life, look hard at the numbers and at your convictions. Are you stuck in this repetitive and never-ending infinite loop where you keep telling yourself you don't have enough, you don't have enough, you don't have enough, gotta have more, gotta get another promotion, gotta get another job, gotta build another business that is just about the money, about the money, about the money. Because when you do that, you keep yourself in that hole. Mind you, you might actually really be in that place, in that place of hardship and need, and then you have to take an extra round, of course. But then it's time to go on the journey. Then it's time to stop lying to yourself and leave that capitalist survival strategy where everything you do has to be for the money, and you finally embrace a capitalism that is about value creation, the transformative one where you are a capitalist entity that permits to use money to create value for which you get paid, with which you create more value. That will be the fire, the fuel that you can use to do your happy work. And before that happens, your happy work will not happen. Because let's be real, no matter how much money you make, if you make it within the transactional capitalist structure, it will never feed your heart. It's impossible because your heart is tucked away. Your heart does not believe in money schemes, your heart does not feed on money, your heart feeds on self-expression. But your job is to create that freedom. Your job is to be liberated from the money question, from the money that you need to take care of your needs. But that also means to admit once you have reached the level of freedom. And again, a last reminder that threshold is much closer than you might think. You you might even already have passed it, and you have to be honest with yourself. The problem is, of course, that we are programmed, that we are conditioned, that we know the world as a dangerous place, and that we have all our past failure to remind us that things could always get dire again, and then we push that threshold farther and farther out, and then our happy work never happens. I'm here to tell you, I'm here to remind you, that's entirely on you. You are the pillar on which transactional capitalism that hurts people and hurts the environment rests. But you're also the pillar on which a better capitalism, the one of transformation, could rest. But for that you have to show up. For that, you have to claim your responsibility. Do it now, do it today, do it this weekend, sit down and probe yourself, probe your life. Where's that threshold in your life? How much do you actually need to cross this, you know, the level of pure survivalism and start actually express yourself and live a life and do work that is about thriving? When you do this, you start to collaborate, you start to build a world that's truly resting on natural principles where everybody could get better. So claim that responsibility. I beg you.