Discussion Post: The Fountainhead

in #gradnium2 years ago

image.png
The movie "The Fountainhead" had many interesting aspects to it but the ones that stuck out to me the most were innovation, not compromising, and not changing for others. In the movie, Howard Roark is an innovator that refuses to compromise with anyone that wants to make changes to his innovations. He believes that what he creates will be successful. He also plans for the future instead of the current times. No one else understands why he turns down so many offers but himself. This is so interesting to me because most entrepreneurs try to create innovations that the public will value. "In just a few short years, I'll shoot to the top of the architectural profession because I'm going to give the public what they want" (1:36). That is how most entrepreneurs think, but not Roark. Roark's goal is just to stick with what he thinks is a good innovation and eventually he ends up being successful with it. Another thing that was very interesting to me was how Roark takes risks. Instead of changing things to see if the public will like them, he risks it all by not changing anything about his innovations. "You realize, of course, your whole future is at stake. This may be your last chance" (13:14). Roark was given an offer by a company to use his building idea but to compromise by changing a little bit of the layout. Roark was so set on keeping his design the way he made it because he knew eventually the public would love it. In the movie, at first, the way Roark decided to go about his business and creation of his architecture was confusing the rest of society. Many businessmen giving him offers were very confused when he chose to decline their offers to please the public since that is what most entrepreneurs would normally do. Society did not support Roark and the architecture he built at first, mostly because it was different than normal and they wanted innovations that the public would want right then, instead of guessing for the future. The truth is, the world of entrepreneurship is constantly changing and it should be successful. We always talk about in class and read in Professor Bylund's book how the business world is constantly changing and it's the entrepreneurs' job to predict what the buyers will value in the future. The interaction between society and Roark, when he first created his building, was very negative. Most of the companies that tried to get him to compromise were trying to find things that were wrong with his innovation because they thought what they did was better. Roark ends up being very successful because he made accurate predictions. The rest of the businessmen were too focused on giving the public what they wanted at the moment, instead of planning for the future. I believe that it is very important for all entrepreneurs to try to predict what the public will value more in the future than try to create something the public will value in the present.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wired.co.uk%2Farticle%2Farchitecture-skyscrapers-future&psig=AOvVaw22bpWK9YAZ4g0VzrspnPT2&ust=1667442756613000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAwQjRxqFwoTCMC2vLu6jvsCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAT