The accidental investment and Mans search for meaning compared - Essay Example

Book analysis How do the themes in each book interconnect? Themes may include: Corporate Social Responsibility, Ethics, Values and Motivation or other themes you identify. The books “The accidental investment” and “Man’s search for meaning” have several interconnecting themes. These themes revolve around ethics, morality, values and motivation. Ethics is the differentiation of good and bad and so is morality. Morality however has an aspect that revolves around the background the individual or people have been brought up in and the morals that were instilled in such individuals. It is therefore not a wonder then that in the first book which solely deals with bankers, the author describes in detail how some bankers shamelessly and in most cases surreptitiously swindle their clients finances by lying about investments and especially those made through the internet. The author who was also in that business but later due to the lack of ethics and morality of the colleagues left explains how those bankers are self-centered thinking only about their future and not of those clients. This may be termed as a lack of morality, self-value and even ethics. The theme of motivation in this book becomes evident where it the motivations of the bankers to make ends meet and avoid having a poor future that make them swindle and lie to clients about investments. The same can be said about the second book whose concept of lack of morality, values and ethics revolves around the Nazi soldiers whose lack of the above mentioned themes led to them treating the Jews inhumanely and subjecting them to unbearable torture. It is this torture that made the author of the book decide to introduce a motivator through counseling the rest of the prisoners to keep their hopes and dreams alive and avoid them losing touch and giving up in life despite them being in the concentration camp. In the first book about investment, the author gives first-hand experience of what really goes on in the investment business that the rest of the population do not know are simply too ignorant to understand. The ethics and morality by bankers in the investment business has simply evolved from being that based on truth and deep care for the client to that of making money and generating revenue regardless of how they will do it. Their values are not in customer satisfaction or benefit like it used to be the case in other previous decades, they simply think about themselves and their future which is uncertain and hence will fleece the innocent investors of their money without flinching an eye. Their motivation relies on internet and it superb working to connect many investors and at the same time remain faceless hence avoiding feelings of guilt in the end. The other book “Man’s search of meaning” is simply a personal experience about the author’s time spent in Nazi’s concentration camp, the hardships they faced, the inhumane treatment, the lack of morals and values by the guards running the camps and in the end the motivation behind survival in the camps and not giving up hope in spite of all the mistreatment. The theme of the first part of the book is about ethics and morality and how the guards in the concentration camp just like the bankers in the above book think about only themselves and hence step down harder on the rest of the people to achieve their goals and objectives at the end of the day. The motivation in the second part where logo therapy is employed by the author in a bid to keep alive and survive all that is interconnected with the motivation behind the banker’s use of internet to benefit themselves and feel less guilt or sad emotions for what they are doing. 2 How do the themes connect with my own ethics, values, interests and motivators? Ethics enable a person differentiate between the good and the bad and therefore make one avoid or correct the things that are deemed bad by the individual or society and concentrate on the good or work towards the good. The ethics theme in the “Accidental investment” book makes me think more about the ethics I have and how I use them. According to my ethical knowledge and even the values I hold dear, I cannot do what the bankers do no matter the motivation behind their actions. It is simply wrong and goes against even human ethical behavior. The fact that they justify their unscrupulous actions and mask it behind the motivation behind their actions is simply against the morals and values the society has instilled in me. According to my consciousness, their behavior all amounts to financial immorality and stealing and that is not what my ethics dictate me to engage in. The interests I have are in business and the book has made me question my motivation behind wanting to join this already corrupted field that has decayed and continuous to decay as days goes by. My motivations in this business field and especially so in banking area have always never been about money but about the service you offer to people most of whom have no idea how to go on and especially in the investment field. It is this motivation that makes me question the ethics and values of those who are in this field and try and find a reason for their behavior by trying to put myself in their shoes, but it simply does not add up and measure to my value standards and understanding of good and bad. However all is not lost after reading and analyzing the book “Man’s search for meaning” and especially its second part which wills people (I included) on how not to let the unethical behavior of others bring you down or prevent you from holding dear your values. It wills me to find motivators that will enable me in the end achieve my interests and calm my disappointments. The book gives hopes to those who feel their interests or dreams no longer matter but just live for the day to not despair and to continue looking for motivators within themselves and outside so as to live to fulfill their interests and dreams. It is with this right motivation portrayed in the second book that makes me still decide to continue pursuing my dreams to work in the banking sector but uphold my morals and values and maybe even try to change those already working there but whose ideas of motivator, morals and ethics is distorted and blinded by the greed for money. 3 What are the primary themes of each book? What question(s) is/are the books attempting to answer? The primary theme in the first book “Accidental investors” is ethics. It attempts to answer of why investors do not succeed even after constant investments? The other question it attempts to answer is why bankers continue to enrich themselves even during hard economic times, why they do not feel the pinch of recession like other people, how do bankers use the internet to make investments and how they seem to benefit when the real investor loses? The unethical issues that the book unveils helps to answer these and many other questions surrounding the investments in banks and what really is happening and especially in this internet era. In the book “Man’s search for meaning,” the main theme is motivation. The book attempts to answer the question of how to go on living after experiencing traumatic situations and events and also questions of where to seek motivators to help you make it in future. This book motivates those have experienced unethical behavior, immorality or a shatter of their dreams and hopes. It wills them to go on, to reconsider their values and life and look for that one motivator be it the family or not that will make the individual avoids stress, demoralization and other negative feelings. The author does that by use of therapy techniques including group therapy with those who have gone through the same experiences and how people can motivate each other and think of the future (as a motivator) not the past. 4 How do the themes or questions the book(s) are attempting to answer align with my own ethics, values, interests and motivators? The attempted answers about the investment field and how it works, what makes some succeed and some fail among other questions all revolve around the issue of ethics. With these answers in mind and with my own ethics and values guiding me, I cannot join this crooked field of defrauding innocent people of their hard earned money just to cater for my own security. The answers that are given in the book through first-hand experience and explanations by a person who has been in that field and seen it all only motivates me to be a force of difference and an icon of change if I join this field that has been my interest for long and hopefully educate people on how to make honest investments. The other answers from the other book has only made me stronger as a person and made me turn my troubles and sorrows into hope and better dreams. The motivation that is essentially the answer to most of the questions in that book is in line with my own thoughts about my motivators in life. Based on the answers in the book, I have the will to help others seek motivators and overcome their past experiences and challenges. 5 What interrelationships and transverse themes do you perceive among the disciplines you have selected? Other than the themes that have discussed above, the other transverse themes in the two books and that also seem to interconnect are the themes of power and inequality. In the book “Accidental investors,’ those with power to make the investments happen or not are the bankers. They use this power of their knowledge of the internet and of the investment field to defraud the innocent investors. The inequality theme also is interrelated with the power theme. The bankers and the investors are considered unequal in society. This is because the investors are the people with the money and hence have future security. The bankers on the other hand have no security of their future due to lack of security of their jobs and that is why they defraud those who have the money in an attempt to establish their own future security and to still maintain the power over those who have. In the other book about concentration camps and motivation, the themes of power and inequality also play out well. The guards and those in charge of the concentration camps had the power over the Jews who were prisoners there. That is why they used brutal force and all manner of punishment and cruel treatment to emphasize this fact. They also viewed the Jews as inferior than them hence theme of inequality comes in. The lack of equality still played a big role in the mistreatment in the camp. The Jews who were prisoners were aware of the inequality and the power differences and hence became depressed and depersonalized, but that was until the author started the logo therapy, but it still did not help improve the situation at the camp. 6 How are they consistent with one another? How are they different? Even though the two books have the same themes as has been discussed extensively above, their differences are evident. One book discusses financial matters which is an issue that makes the hearts of many race and which is what makes the world go round. The book is therefore more sensitive in physical and tangible issues that matter to all humans and hence the themes are interpreted differently. The other book is more to do with psychological being which most individuals do not fully understand and leave to the experts. Some also do not seem to think psychological issues play an important part in their lives until they are referred to see psychologists. This book can therefore be used as counseling for the investors and even for the bankers who are stressed, demoralized and whose values, ethics and morals have been shattered. Read More