The Fountainhead is a classic Warner Brothers production about revolutionary architect, Howard Roark, fighting against corrupt business interests. Though the film was made in 1949, it showcases several business aspects that we can learn from today. Roark's journey also reminds me of one of today's largest entrepreneurial enterprises in America. In this story, Howard Roark is an individualistic architect who faces a great deal of adversity while trying to pursue his passion.
At the time this movie was set, all buildings were made to look alike. There was no creativity or innovation in architecture. All architects were brainwashed into believing that in order to be successful, you need to create designs that mimic what has been done before. The thought process behind this was that it's what the public wanted. However, Roark was a trailblazer to this concept. His unorthodox designs were what he wanted to build. They were developed from his true love of design and ingenuity. The problem is that his greatest strengths, became his biggest weaknesses. The people with power over the public turned passion, creativity, and innovation into egotistic, selfish, and vain. Every design he pitched was turned down or had to be altered to match the narrative. Because Roark was so passionate about architecture, he wouldn't give in, even when becoming broke. He even stated he would rather be a laborer then work on projects that were meaningless. Which is exactly what happened.
At this point of the movie, I was left questioning: Is Roark a bad entrepreneur? Society had a negative view on his way of doing things. It was mentioned multiple times that if he would have just done what people wanted, he would have been able to climb to the top. Roark wouldn't have been anything short of rich and famous. At the end of the day, Roark could have been a successful entrepreneurial architect giving society what they wanted in exchange for profit and recognition. However, I came to a realization about what it means to be an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs supply something of value to consumers in order to receive something of value. My mind was stuck on the opinion that all entrepreneurs want to be successful for the money and fame. Looking at it now all Roark wanted was to be able to create create something the way he intended. Roark even mentioned while being turned down that he didn't build to have customers, but he had customers so he could build. In Roark's mind, he found no point in being an architect unless he could be innovative with his work, and that was enough for him to want to succeed. In the end, Roark's integrity ended up working out for him. He was discovered by people who appreciated his work and was able to make a living through his passion.
The situation Roark was facing reminded me of a very successful American venture. That being, the multi billion dollar corporation, Uber. It's the classic tale of David vs. Goliath. Like Roark, Uber was bringing an unorthodox approach into a non-innovating market. In Uber's case, the taxi companies had been around for years. They didn't want new competition so they were able to use their positions of power over Uber. Uber was then forced to find a new way to configure their company to survive. These two example bring up another aspect of business. As an entrepreneur with a new way of running a business it can be hard to identify if you're in the right market Sometimes, you have to find a specialized segment of the market for a particular kind of product or service. Also known as, niche market's. For Roark, this was finding people who could see the true beauty in his work. Once he was given that opportunity, he was able to showcase his innovations to all of society.
I think that is a great lesson for current and future entrepreneurs. Don't create to have customers, but have customers so you can create. When you are working in order to fulfill your own interests, you will be more driven to attack a market. The truth is, business is much more difficult than coming up with a product everyone is going to want. When you create a product or supply a service that you are passionate about, it is much easier to fight the opposition. Like Howard Roark, and Uber, creating something that you truly believe will benefit society is how you will grow as an entrepreneur.
