Shakespeare on money

A pragmatist, Shakespeare knows the value of money.

In the comedy “The Merry Wives of Windsor,” the jealous Mister Ford has doubts about his wife’s fidelity, so he offers the rogue Falstaff money to seduce Mrs. Ford.

Money can open any door, says Ford. “If money go before, all ways do lie open.”

For Falstaff, money is but a tool, and it is up to us to wield it well.

“Money is a good soldier, and will on.”

Even Corin, the good-natured shepherd in the play “As You Like It,” knows that having enough money is as important as a steady job and peace of mind.

“He that wants [does not have] money, means, and content/is without three good friends.”

Put wealth in perspective

Money is essential, but most of the characters in Shakespeare’s plays, including the infamous Shylock and his pound of flesh in the play “Merchant of Venice,” warn against inordinate worship of money.

In the tragedy “Timon of Athens,” the wise steward Flavius warns his master Timon about equating money with happiness:

“For bounty, that makes gods / Does still mar men / My dearest lord, bless’d / To be most accursed / Rich, only to be wretched / Thy great fortunes / Are made thy chief afflictions.”

Upon the loss of his fortune, Timon curses money for poisoning and enslaving the world.  Very few people, whatever their station, are immune to its snares.

“Who seeks for better of thee, sauce his palate / With thy most operant poison! What is here? / Gold? yellow, glittering, precious gold? No, gods / I am no idle votarist … Thus much of this will make black white, foul fair / Wrong right, base noble, old young, coward valiant … Why, this / Will lug your priests and servants from your sides / Pluck stout men’s pillows from below their heads / This yellow slave / Will knit and break religions, bless the accursed / Make the hoar leprosy adored, place thieves / And give them title, knee and approbation / With senators on the bench: this is it / That makes the wappen’d widow wed again.”

In a shrewd but cynical commentary on what happens when people accrue wealth and power, the Bastard in the play “King John” believes the poor resent the rich—until they themselves acquire Commodity (wealth), by which time they will turn against the poor.

“And why rail I upon Commodity? / But for because he hath not wooed me yet / Not that I have the power to clutch my hand / When his fair angels would salute my palm / But for my hand, as unattempted yet / Like a poor beggar raileth on the rich / Well, whiles I am a beggar, I will rail / And say there is no sin but to be rich / And being rich, my virtue then shall be / To say there is no vice but beggary.”

The observations above are food for thought not just for family businesses, but with the rising economic inequality between the haves and the have-nots, it’s also much-required reflection for those who claim to serve the poor—that is, until power is within their grasp.

Lifelong learning

In “As You Like It,” the court jester Touchstone, the smartest character in the comedy, says:  “the fool doth think he is wise / but the wise man knows himself a fool.”

Only ignorant people feel they know everything, and become threatened when their errors are pointed out. On the other hand, wise people are not afraid to commit mistakes, for they know there is still so much to learn.

I have had the pleasure of working with Erramon “Montxu” Aboitiz, who served on the board of the Ateneo de Manila University’s Family Business Development Center.  Montxu takes seriously the responsibility of steering the Aboitiz family business into the future.

The family chooses its leaders carefully. Montxu is already the sixth family CEO.

In the book “Aboitiz:  Family and Firm in the Philippines,” writer Resil Mojares includes Montxu’s thoughts on how the family business has successfully transitioned through the centuries.

“Flexibility is probably one of the more important ingredients in business,” says Montxu.  “We do believe in traditions and looking at how things were done in the past, but we also think about how things should be done in the future and don’t fear making that change when we feel it’s required.”