"Now the serpent was more subtle than any other wild creature that the Lord God had made....So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took some of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, and he ate....The woman said, "The serpent beguiled me, and I ate."'
The serpent's still here, evidently. He's consumer capitalism....The evidence suggests this snake is pure myth....it now takes only eight ideas, instead of 31, to come up with one that goes to market. Of those that go, however, only 17 percent meet their business objectives - a failure rate of 83 percent. In other words, consumers are so seduced by corporate America that they reject nearly 9 out of 10 things it tries to sell them. With that kind of persuasive power, the poor old serpent, instead of going on his belly and eating dust, might still be a lizard."
Full text
CityBusiness
October 1997
