After becoming a fellow with the Halcyon Incubator, I found myself thrusted into the sphere of DC’s movers and shakers. With so many vocal constituencies in this city— many proclaiming “People Before Profits”—I often feel isolated for my beliefs around profits. I can’t help but hesitate in expressing my opinions for fear of offending others. Yet, as I’m developing NewsEase, a social venture that focuses on childhood literacy, I can’t help but grit my teeth each time I hear profits referred to as some nameless, faceless mechanism of antihuman malice.
I was pleasantly surprised when I discovered that perhaps those more vocal parties, like Occupy Wall Street, are masking the majority of my peers who share my opinions on profit. According to the 2014 Reason-Rupe Millennial Survey, 64 percent of millennials have a favorable impression of profit. They see it as a positive force, because it “encourages businesses to provide valued products to attract customers.” Fifty-five percent of my millennial peers would like to start their own business one day. I’m sure many will have some measure of social impact in their value proposition, as mine does.
For me, I’ve always seen profit as a measurement of effective human relationships. It’s a tool to gauge two key factors for a venture in any market: how many people am I serving, and am I serving them efficiently?
Profit is a balancing act. It measures human appreciation for what you offer, balanced against your ability to serve your fellow man quickly and judiciously. That balance is vital. If you don’t operate efficiently, profits will fall in the short-term. Just as importantly, if you don’t serve the needs of others, profits will inevitably fall with longer-lasting consequences.
In short, profit is in large part social impact. It’s a measurement of your ability to make the life of another human being better. It’s deeply personal; a stark contrast to the cold mechanism so many would have us believe profit to be.
It’s natural to expect that across the business spectrum, there will be some organizations that do malicious or immoral things in the name of profit. It’s inevitable that any tool of human invention can and will be twisted. Profit is no exception. Those bad actors should always be addressed, but should in no way taint the entire for-profit business community. One advantage of a free market is that most people won’t tolerate inappropriate behavior for very long.
Now more than ever, with constant innovation serving to better connect our world, it’s becoming harder for companies to hide inappropriate behavior from public view. The Internet allows us to inform, connect, and motivate our fellow consumers, serving as an efficient tool for holding businesses accountable for their actions. I’ve seen firsthand how a single boycott led by empowered, informed consumers can lead to substantial policy changes within some of the world’s largest corporations. When well-informed consumers recognize their power and dare to act, their potential to encourage ethical behavior in the business community is limitless.
With my venture and so many others like it, I hope to measure my profit against efficiency, using that balancing act to effect change in education. I believe if we can encourage the education community to see profit the same way a majority of millennials do, it might provide inroads to improve our nation’s broken education system.
Interestingly, there’s a strong correlation between education and millennials’ views on profit. The Reason-Rupe survey showed that millennials with a more traditional college education were far less likely to be entrepreneurial. I find that very concerning. Our business world needs these people engaged and excited to bring new ventures to the market. Yet something in our educational system is now turning them away, keeping them from seeing profit as an effective and necessary tool.
Thankfully, despite that concerning trend, a growing number of millennials see profit as a valuable tool for positive, long-lasting social impact. Gone are the days of social good as the monopolistic domain of the non-profit. Thanks to this rebirth of profit-seekers, combined with the millennials’ unfailing belief in the power we all have to change the world, we are waking up to a future where business and social impact are increasingly synonymous. In my opinion, that future is bright.
Heather Lawver Sewell is the Founder & CEO of NewsEase, an online newspaper publication community that harnesses the power of pop culture to engage children in literacy education. Follow on Twitter @NewsEase.
This article was originally published in the Diplomatic Courier's January/February 2015 print edition.
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Where Is The Sin In Profit?
February 6, 2015
After becoming a fellow with the Halcyon Incubator, I found myself thrusted into the sphere of DC’s movers and shakers. With so many vocal constituencies in this city— many proclaiming “People Before Profits”—I often feel isolated for my beliefs around profits. I can’t help but hesitate in expressing my opinions for fear of offending others. Yet, as I’m developing NewsEase, a social venture that focuses on childhood literacy, I can’t help but grit my teeth each time I hear profits referred to as some nameless, faceless mechanism of antihuman malice.
I was pleasantly surprised when I discovered that perhaps those more vocal parties, like Occupy Wall Street, are masking the majority of my peers who share my opinions on profit. According to the 2014 Reason-Rupe Millennial Survey, 64 percent of millennials have a favorable impression of profit. They see it as a positive force, because it “encourages businesses to provide valued products to attract customers.” Fifty-five percent of my millennial peers would like to start their own business one day. I’m sure many will have some measure of social impact in their value proposition, as mine does.
For me, I’ve always seen profit as a measurement of effective human relationships. It’s a tool to gauge two key factors for a venture in any market: how many people am I serving, and am I serving them efficiently?
Profit is a balancing act. It measures human appreciation for what you offer, balanced against your ability to serve your fellow man quickly and judiciously. That balance is vital. If you don’t operate efficiently, profits will fall in the short-term. Just as importantly, if you don’t serve the needs of others, profits will inevitably fall with longer-lasting consequences.
In short, profit is in large part social impact. It’s a measurement of your ability to make the life of another human being better. It’s deeply personal; a stark contrast to the cold mechanism so many would have us believe profit to be.
It’s natural to expect that across the business spectrum, there will be some organizations that do malicious or immoral things in the name of profit. It’s inevitable that any tool of human invention can and will be twisted. Profit is no exception. Those bad actors should always be addressed, but should in no way taint the entire for-profit business community. One advantage of a free market is that most people won’t tolerate inappropriate behavior for very long.
Now more than ever, with constant innovation serving to better connect our world, it’s becoming harder for companies to hide inappropriate behavior from public view. The Internet allows us to inform, connect, and motivate our fellow consumers, serving as an efficient tool for holding businesses accountable for their actions. I’ve seen firsthand how a single boycott led by empowered, informed consumers can lead to substantial policy changes within some of the world’s largest corporations. When well-informed consumers recognize their power and dare to act, their potential to encourage ethical behavior in the business community is limitless.
With my venture and so many others like it, I hope to measure my profit against efficiency, using that balancing act to effect change in education. I believe if we can encourage the education community to see profit the same way a majority of millennials do, it might provide inroads to improve our nation’s broken education system.
Interestingly, there’s a strong correlation between education and millennials’ views on profit. The Reason-Rupe survey showed that millennials with a more traditional college education were far less likely to be entrepreneurial. I find that very concerning. Our business world needs these people engaged and excited to bring new ventures to the market. Yet something in our educational system is now turning them away, keeping them from seeing profit as an effective and necessary tool.
Thankfully, despite that concerning trend, a growing number of millennials see profit as a valuable tool for positive, long-lasting social impact. Gone are the days of social good as the monopolistic domain of the non-profit. Thanks to this rebirth of profit-seekers, combined with the millennials’ unfailing belief in the power we all have to change the world, we are waking up to a future where business and social impact are increasingly synonymous. In my opinion, that future is bright.
Heather Lawver Sewell is the Founder & CEO of NewsEase, an online newspaper publication community that harnesses the power of pop culture to engage children in literacy education. Follow on Twitter @NewsEase.
This article was originally published in the Diplomatic Courier's January/February 2015 print edition.
