| Phineas T. (P.T.) Barnum (1810-1891) was one of the most popular lecturers of his day. Over the course of his career, he held audiences spellbound at lyceum`s, museums, tent-gatherings, theatres, private homes, and in any room that could hold a paying audience.
Contrary to his popular image (He never uttered the phrase "there`s a sucker born every minute"), Barnum generally conducted his business enterprises in a virtuous manner, respecting his customers and making sure they were satisfied. Indeed, he was among the first to appreciate fully -- and to articulate -- that an honest approach was the most reliable path to long-term wealth. He was, in other words, one of the pioneers of business ethics.
Barnum made an important financial discovery during the course of his business career. He observed that nearly all his deceptive schemes "ended in disaster," reducing him "to the pinching income of $4 per week," whereas his fortune derived almost wholly from the legitimate enterprises.
Barnum thus learned that, in business, virtue is considerably more than its own reward. News about this discovery can easily be lost when it is imbedded among picturesque yarns about humbugs, but it was of great significance to Barnum, and, more broadly, it was probably important to the massive economic expansion that took place in what we now call the developed world during and after his lifetime.
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