Atlas Shrugged

Most of my management classmates have read it. Most of my friends have too. I couldn't resist but grab a copy to see what makes 'Atlas Shrugged' the must read of all times. And, I could never repent doing that. Ayn Rand is a very seasoned author. Her fluidity, intelligence, narrative, and suspense keeps the reader bound and yearning for more. The more you read the more you want to. (naturally, I had many sleepless nights finishing it through.)

Although, John Galt is the creme-de-la-creme, but Dagny Taggart is my favourite character. I couldn't resist devoting an entire post to her.

There are many dimensions to Dagny Taggart’s persona. She is intelligent, ambitious, courageous, wise and sensitive. She displays great strength of character in her handling of Taggart Transcontinental (a private transportation company on the verge of collapse). The multiple shades of her persona make her very real.

Intelligence – Dagny, an engineer by education and business woman by profession, is sharply intelligent. Her intelligence reflects in her handling of crises which is faced by her business, her endeavours to retain the best talents of her organization, her decision to provide transportation services to Rearden metal industries. Its on the account of her intelligence that her father leaves her with the Taggart business legacy in spite of her elder brother vying for it.

Ambition – She is highly ambitious as she decides to pursue her career as a business woman when she always had the opportunity to settle with the most eligible elite suitors from the society and lead a wealthy life. However, she dreamt of running her father’s business and taking it to newer heights of success.

Courage – Dagny displays great courage when she decides to build new rail lines to support business in an area where no competitor dared to venture and make supplies to a fellow business which would have withered without her help and commitment. She fights with detrimental government (which ofcourse is being run by corrupt ministers bribed by her brother) policies which she understands are being made to make revenues on account of the hardwork of private businesses run by men and women of caliber. She also displays astonishing courage in going public about her love affair with Hank Rearden another successful businessman and man of will in wedlock with an undeserving and scheming woman.

Perseverance – Dagny has to fight not only the corrosive government policies which were abolishing market competition by containing the large businesses but also other threats being caused by the self proclaimed terminator of skilled man power resources –John Galt, who is on a crusade to end all profit making businesses of the world. It is noteworthy that John Galt is the person who is detrimental to Dagny’s business and also the final object of her affection. She was given the option to renunciate all and spend a comfortable life with john Galt in the other world order that he was creating with the help of the accomplished who’s who of the society. Still she decides to run her dying business and not give up against all the forces of the society.

Sensitivity – Dagny is a skilled business woman who takes the practical most decisions for her business. But in her personal life she is a very sensitive woman who had been in love with different men at different stages of life and had always love with same passion with which she ran her business.

Leadership – Her workforce respects her and trusts her decisions. She has great communication skills which further strengthen her leadership qualities. She is capable of being one with the down-trodden and labour class and effectively handles the elite also. It was due to her leadership qualities that the Taggart Transcontinental was the last business to sink in an economy where businesses were dying away everyday.

She is a perfect blend of qualities that make successful figures of the society. She sometimes takes harsh decisions but we can’t call her authoritarian. She does injustice to her brother for the health of business, but we can’t call her selfish. She sometimes manipulates her rivals with her charm but we can’t call her loose. She falls in love with different men at different stages but we can’t call her non-committal. She crashes her plane out of curiosity but we can’t call her frivolous.

In her best selling ‘Atlas shrugged’, Ayn Rand has created a woman with whom every modern woman can relate to.

A must read!