In my neck of the woods being a doctor is noble, being a teacher is noble, but being a businessperson is not that noble. Business means selling and in Romania that is often equated with being sleazy, manipulative, borderline sketchy or straight-up unethical. So, of course, I became a businesswoman. Perhaps I was being contrary but, looking back, it was not a straightforward choice.
The end of communism caught my parents thirsty to build something of their own. And they did. Growing up I saw them build and run businesses but I did not think much about it. And truth be told, I did not really get the point. What can a business do? Why build a business? Making money seemed to be the only reason behind it.
Years later and after having built a bespoke travel business from scratch, I know the answer. Business can be a force for good in the world. It can transform lives, solve problems, and ultimately make people and communities better. It’s much more than a money generating machine.
When I decided that business was the right path for me I just thought it’s the perfect mix between working alone and with people, working using analytical but also soft skills. So I applied for an MBA and decided I wanted to be a general manager; I wanted to be in charge of all the component parts that make a business run. That to me felt like the best job in the world.
Slowly, first during my MBA and then while working in consulting, I had more and more questions about the ways in which one can build and run a business. If making money was not the only reason for a business to exist, what else was there? I slowly realized that if one has the right motivation and wants to be of service to others, money comes in but other goals are achieved also. That’s what I wanted and that’s what I felt was the only way to actually be in business.
One goal that mattered to me was the feeling that I should have a positive impact on the lives of others. Beyond Dracula, the travel business I built, is fully aligned with this.
For example, I know for a fact that some of our guests have spent memorable times together as a family or with friends on the trips we put together. Some of the artisans we work with can keep local traditions alive and earn from doing something they love. The guides we work with have had increasing revenues and better working conditions from our collaboration. At the same time, our team works with lots of flexibility built in it so we all can adapt and be there when our children need us. And so on.
In the past 7 years at Beyond Dracula I really saw that business is one of the things that can be a force for good in the world.
But let me put this here: for a business to run, it has to make money. Without money, the business has no oxygen. So making money has to be on your mind when you run a business. The problem appears when making money is the only focus of your business.
If your aim is to solve a problem, to give your client something he needs, chances are that you’re making money. If you also care that those you work with - be it partners, suppliers or team members - are feeling good and have their needs met when working with you, chances are you’ll thrive in the long run. And if you also manage to work in such a way that your larger community benefits, it adds years of business success to your enterprise.
The MBA way of putting this is by talking about building a business that has a mission, a vision, and values. These are some of the hardest things for entrepreneurs to grapple with. They matter but what should they be comprised of and why are they important to the employers and the employees? What purpose do they serve?
The answer is exactly the point I made earlier: your business mission, vision and values are exactly the kind of things that make a business a force for good in the world. These are built in such a way that every person in the business feels them, lives them, adheres to them. Every decision and action is aligned with them and serves a bigger purpose. The only condition they have to meet is that they have to be focused on creating value, not on destroying value.
We could now open a longer discussion about value and I’d love your thoughts. My take is simple: there is no middle way, you either create or destroy value and we, as humans, know it well when we do one or the other. It’s not my idea or discovery. There’s plenty of literature on this and lots of businesses out there that you can study. What you’ll find, again and again, is that businesses which thrive, grow, and make the world a better place have at their core ‘value creating principles’. Those who don’t fully embrace value creation, do not make it in the long run. Here too you can study plenty of examples.
From the examples that you know, what kind of businesses out there are a force for good? Why? How do they make the world a better place?
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