Captain of industry
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Captain of industry was a term originally used in the U.S. during the Industrial Revolution describing a business leader whose means of amassing a personal fortune contributes positively to the country in some way. This may have been through increased productivity, expansion of markets, providing more jobs, or acts of philanthropy. This contrasts with robber baron, a term used to describe a business leader applying unscrupulous practices and bribery of public officials for "sympathetic" interpretation of the law.
Some nineteenth-century industrialists who were called "captains of industry" ironically overlap with those called "robber barons." These include philanthropists like J.P. Morgan, Andrew Carnegie, and John D. Rockefeller.
Today the name is used by a variety of companies and individuals, but with a completely different perspective and meaning than previously employed, a couple of the more interesting being a viral advertising agency Captains of Industry in the USA, a loosely connected group of writers, musicians, artists and poets Captains of Industry in the UK, and the independent rock band Captain of Industry from Dayton, OH.
