I was taught that if you wanted to change the world, you steered clear of business. You joined a non-profit, became pastor, nurse, missionary, teacher… You raised “support” from those who had money. Business was something quite different. Business existed for one purpose: to make money. When you wanted to do good, you volunteered, you gave money, you left business. You counted the days until you could retire from business and do something meaningful. The most successful and fortunate could retire early, at “halftime” and move from “success to significance.” Certainly, business wouldn’t fall in the “significance” bucket!
This long-held ”separation of church and business” is, like the Iron Curtain, falling. There’s a growing movement of people who see “beyond the bottom line” to business as a means to positively impact clients, communities and even partnering non-profits and churches. These businesses possess mission statements that focus on meeting needs, creating positive change, alleviating poverty, bringing hope, and providing meaningful work opportunities that fit their abilities and skills.
This “changing the world through business” mindset influenced Richard Roche and Roche Industries to institute what they call a “triple bottom line” in their factories in Mexico and soon other countries. They measure success as
Profitable for the business (For the financial stakeholders)
Profitable for the community (Including the employees)
Profitable spiritually (Building God's mission in the world)
Of course, when someone is starving - give him a fish. ”Biznistry” doesn’t replace the need to support non-profits, charities and churches. However “teaching them to fish” and providing means of production and opportunity - building new ”fishing industries” - can transform lives and communities longterm. Authors Rundle and Steffan in their book Great Commission Companies write, “According to the World Bank, almost a quarter of the world’s population struggles on one dollar per day or less… Business has a remarkable capacity to touch virtually every person on the face of this planet.”
“Most developing nations are trying to build their economies with very little spiritual capital, and they lack the business practices and institutions to grow their capital,” writes Silicon Valley entrepreneur Ken Eldred in his book, God is at Work: Transforming People and Nations Through Business.
Is this creation of purpose-driven business easy? No! It certainly runs the risk of being neither profitable nor effective. Have some already demonstrated it is possible to do both? Absolutely. (Pura Vida Coffee, Olive Technology, Roche Industries, RemoteLink…) Will there be more soon? YES. Just watch. And I would love to hear from you if this resonates with you or if you’re involved in this type of business. Its been amazing to be involved with a visionary network of others engaged in this enterprise.
As Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, “Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.” That’s true as well for those seeking to change the world through business.
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