Kenneth R Taylor

Growing up with well-educated parents of wide-ranging, eclectic experience and interests, Kenneth Taylor was exposed from an early age to a variety of cultural touchstones.

With his father working in the world of tech startups, he had a ringside seat to watch many of the principles discussed in this book illustrated in living and sometimes garish color.

Working for a Japanese tech company in the mid-1990s presented a unique view of modern Confucian management. At the time, most Japanese employers were very large, very old, or both. The Japanese had recovered from the destruction of WW II by learning from other countries. Having caught up with the West, they now had to discover new ideas on their own to keep their economy growing.

Mr. Taylor’s employer had founded by a Japanese graduate of Tokyo University who’d been sent through MIT by a monstrous Japanese conglomerate. They expected him to work for them until he died so that they could recover their investment in his education; instead he founded a startup like so many in America at the time.

During his time there, Mr. Taylor found that the startup exhibited Confucian virtue. The boss took very good care of his employees, encouraged them to learn new skills, and shared the proceeds with them. Unfortunately, the company lacked the financial resources to survive the economic shock of the Tokyo property crash, and the firm went under.

Back in the United States, Mr. Taylor joined, ran, and founded tech startups in the Northeast, experiencing the economic shocks of 9/11, 2008, and following. These traumas and simultaneous loss of societal virtue led to the question: is America entering the final stage of the Confucian cycle; and if so, what can we do about it? His quest for the wisdom of history and for comparing the past to the present evolved into many articles on Scragged.com which became the basis for this book.

In addition to research and opinion writing, Mr. Taylor is currently involved in technology in the government sector as well as several other private-sector ventures.