This week I read the definitive poem written by Leonard E Read that was cited by Milton Friedman. Listen to the words with an open mind and you’ll get a sense of the totality of people involved in the building of a simple pencil.  All these people are coming together, without a puppet master or grand orchestrator.  It seems almost improbable…but it happens everyday in every industry.

“I, Pencil: My Family Tree as told to Leonard E. Read”

by Milton Friedman Leonard Read’s delightful story, “I, Pencil,” has become a classic, and deservedly so. I know of no other piece of literature that so succinctly, persuasively, and effectively illustrates the meaning of both Adam Smith’s invisible hand-the possibility of cooperation without coercion-and Friedrich Hayek’s emphasis on the importance of dispersed knowledge and the role of the price system in communicating information that “will make the individuals do the desirable things without anyone having to tell them what to do.”