December 7th, 2005

Business Will Evolve Beyond Profit

From “Your World in 2015, Ten emerging trends that could reshape our lives over the next 10 years” – one of many inspiring articles in Ode magazine’s (disclosure: Ode is an SRB client) December 2005 issue:

Number 10: From Greed to Need

Business will evolve beyond profit
Business has become the instrument people use to serve the well-being of other people and the planet.

Read that line again and look for the missing word: profit.

Companies don’t exist to make profits. They are created to serve and contribute. They turn a profit only to be able to continue their service to the world. Money is a tool, not an objective.

This concept emerged in the early 1990s when the idea of “people, planet and profit” was introduced as the principle of socially responsible business. Sustainable investment became a major trend and helped bring meaning back into business. But “profit” was still the anomaly in that equation, and because of it the circle of greed kept turning until shareholders even in socially responsible firms were expecting sizable returns. Greedy shareholders created greedy employees and greedy customers.

Capitalism works fine after it shifts from greed to need. See a problem that needs to be solved? Start a company to do it. And, yes, take in money and continue to make more meaningful contributions while you earn more money. Capitalism can be a wonderful system and it works on the most basic levels. It can be used to fight poverty, as the success of microfinance institutions has shown.

The good news is that crowds of young, energetic people have turned away from old-fashioned corporations that only serve their shareholders. They want to make more meaningful contributions to the world and to themselves. They constitute a new generation of entrepreneurs that is transforming capitalism.

They are changing the world – one business at a time.