The other day, I wrote about W. Edwards Deming on business success. Today, I thought of another great American businessman. I’ll bet many of my readers think of P.T. Barnum as the great huckster, the progenitor of Donald Trump, which Barnum probably was. The two characters use similar tactics, but Barnum’s enterprises were roaring business successes that changed the nation. Trump is such a business bungler, he bankrupted New Jersey casinos.
Daniel Boorstin, the renowned American social historian and Librarian of Congress, dubbed Barnum as “a genius at making pseudo-events,” in his book The Image. Trump, who announced digital trading cards with comic depictions of himself last August, also makes pseudo-events.
There’s no evidence that Barnum ever said “never give a sucker an even break,” or “there’s a sucker born every second,” but he was a master at using gimmicks and distortions to get attention. Boorstin reports that Barnum sent a man out to ostentatiously move single bricks stationed around his American Museum in Manhattan (now the American Museum of Natural History) to draw a crowd which would follow him inside every hour attempting to discover what the man was doing and also paying the entrance fee. The stunt paid for itself and greatly increased the notoriety of the museum.
The brick stunt was harmless, but Barnum also generated empty publicity– pseudo-events if you like Boorstin’s term—around racism and people with physical oddities such as dwarfism. In this, Barnum was cruel, but perhaps not perceived as cruel during the 1830-1880 period when Barnum was active. To his credit, Barnum successfully ran for public office on anti-slavery and fair treatment for former slaves.
Barnum readily admitted that some of his stunts were outright fakes, or humbugs as he called them, and the public seemed to accept his chicanery as good-natured entertainment. His museums captured the public favor. He raised the stature of the theater, which became acceptable middle and upper class entertainment through his guidance and publicity. He brought the famed Swedish opera singer, Jenny Lind, to the U. S. on a popular tour that was immensely profitable for both Barnum and Lind. And, of course, the Barnum Bailey Circus was a crowd-pleasing success.
Both Trump and Barnum published books on how to succeed in rough and tumble business. Barnum had no ghost writer; he wrote The Art of Money Getting himself. Unlike Trump, who has reviled factual news platforms, Barnum wrote:
Always take a trustworthy newspaper, and thus keep thoroughly posted in regard to the transactions of the world. He who is without a newspaper is cut off from his species. In these days of telegraphs and steam, many important inventions and improvements in every branch of trade are being made, and he who don’t consult the newspapers will soon find himself and his business left out in the cold.
This brings up an important point that may help folks who do not look forward to the 47th presidency. Follow Barnum’s advice and seek verifiable facts. They influence business (and life) far more than false “alternate facts.” People who act on false information are cut off from their species and make poor decisions, both in life and business. Barnum knew that.
Notice, like Boorstin, that pseudo-events, only generate publicity. Pay attention to events, not pseudo-events; your life will be easier.