What's a Business For?

This week we read and watched videos about using our businesses for good.  They spoke about how especially as entrepreneurs we have the opportunity to help others, whether it is through actual charitable contributions or by our business providing a service to those around us.  I believe that the Lord will help us with our businesses, especially if we are using it as a tool to make the lives of others better.

Charles Handy, the author of “What’s a Business For,” says that the “markets rely on rules and laws, but those rules and laws in turn depend on truth and trust.”  If a company cannot be trusted that they are following the rules, then no one will want to do business with that company.  If the market as a whole becomes untrustworthy, then people will no longer want to invest in companies, will not purchase goods from untruthful companies, will not put their money in banks, will not request loans and the whole market will collapse.  Just as the Enron and WorldCom scandals shed light on the scandalous accounting practice of inflating numbers and creating off balance sheet accounts, the world lost trust in the accounting world and their audits that are supposed to protect consumers and shareholders.  Handy says, “Trust, too, is fragile. Like a piece of china, once cracked it is never quite the same.” If no one can be trusted, then who will we do business with?  Who will want to do business with us if we follow unfair and untrustworthy practices?  No one.

According to Charles Handy, the “real justification” for the existence of a business is to “do something more or better”.  Meaning, that a business is not just here to make money for the owner or shareholders, but to do something meaningful with the business.  This could be creating and producing a new gadget that will make people’s lives better.  Or it could mean to provide a service for the people in a community.  What is the vision or drive a company has?  If it is just to make money, then that is not much justification for a business.  But if it is to make a difference, then that is the real justification.

One of the solutions mentioned by Mr. Handy that, I believe, is a large key to a successful society and economy is the “contribution ethic”.  It piggy backs off his “real justification” for business, to make something more or better.  Basically, that you are contributing to society through your business.  This contribution can be in any form, but it is providing that merely to make things better and not for profit, the profit just comes as a result of truly following a vision or passion.

Another solution Mr. Handy brings up is the sense of community within an organization.  I work at a large credit union that has always been within the top 15 largest credit unions in the country for over 20 years.  When I first started, I truly felt a sense of family and community.  I felt like we were all in this together to help the members and in fact, our internal slogan was “Be the Member.”  There were and still are many people that have been here for 30+ years.  Over the last 5 years or so, it seems that we have lost our vision a little bit.  It feels that in our desire to help more people we are no longer helping the one.  We don’t know our members personally and we seem to be quick to make blanket decisions and implementations to avoid risk but aren’t willing to look at how this might affect the one person.  As I said, I felt like we were a family 17 years ago when I started, but now, it seems everyone is out for themselves, we no longer work as a team or community.  Maybe it is just within my department or maybe it is the younger generations, but previously people would work to get their own assignments done so they could help out the others.  But lately, it seems that people want to drag their work out for all 8 hours when it could be completed in 5 or 6.  The sense of family is lost (or maybe that is how families now work).  But I don’t see the changes in society as a good thing, because I know it is not just in my own company, but in others. I see us going farther away from a community mentality to a “me mentality”.  It’s not just in business, but it is in our actual communities.  How often do people get together to have “a barn raising” or sit and talk on their porches?  When was the last time you even heard about a community dance or picnic?  We are losing our sense of togetherness to an individualistic lifestyle.  As these things happen, we lose what truly makes people great, their love and charity.  This cannot be just a business mind set, but a life mind set.  If we could learn to love and serve others more fully, the community mentality could return and make things better in all areas of our lives.  I know that maybe that is not possible in the world we now live, but maybe at some point people will wake up and realize we are all brothers and sisters and what truly matters in life is not how much money we can make for ourselves, but who we love and help along the way.