{"id":758,"date":"2016-09-21T10:00:23","date_gmt":"2016-09-21T10:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rocksolidbizdevelopment.com\/ourblog\/?p=758"},"modified":"2025-07-01T17:20:23","modified_gmt":"2025-07-01T17:20:23","slug":"make-money-good","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rocksolidbizdevelopment.com\/ourblog\/make-money-good\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Make Money and Do Good"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>According to Adam Smith, credited with being the Father of Modern Economics, \u201cIf you continue to operate in your own self-interest, you will do the best good for society.\u201d\u00a0 That sentiment was echoed by American economist and free market champion, Milton Friedman, who said, \u201cThere is only one social responsibility of business \u2013 to use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits.\u201d\u00a0 So for business, in the view of those two gentlemen, profit isn\u2019t the main thing, it\u2019s the <em><u>only<\/u><\/em> thing . . . a singular focus on profits is the best way for business to benefit society.\u00a0 But is that still true today?\u00a0 Maybe not.\u00a0 For more on this, please continue reading below.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How to Make Money and Do Good<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s a growing body of thought, in businesses large and small, that creating financial value and creating social value are not mutually exclusive activities . . . that they can, in fact, complement one another.\u00a0 While Smith and Friedman seemed to say that building a strong, profitable business alone creates a social benefit, many of today\u2019s business leaders are saying that we have to do more . . . that we have to attack some of today\u2019s social problems more directly.\u00a0 Consider:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A soap manufacturer that donates product and conducts hygiene programs in third world countries where unsanitary conditions cost millions of lives every year.<\/li>\n<li>Companies that have pledged to buy raw materials only from renewable, sustainable sources.<\/li>\n<li>Companies that are committed to reducing their \u201ccarbon footprint\u201d by using clean energy sources like wind or solar.<\/li>\n<li>Companies that manufacture and package their products in ways designed to make them recyclable.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>To be sure, there\u2019s no shortage of corporate greed or of companies that behave in ways that are socially irresponsible (think Volkswagen).\u00a0 But as more companies embrace their social responsibilities, the companies that do not will stand out in a way that will not be helpful.\u00a0 If you want to differentiate yourself from your competition, being socially irresponsible would not be a very good way to do it.<\/p>\n<p>While we\u2019d like to think that there\u2019s an altruistic motive for companies to be socially responsible . . . and there\u2019s certainly some of that . . . there\u2019s more.\u00a0 There are also some smart business motives at work here too.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>It\u2019s good for employee relations. Survey after survey shows that employees want to be involved with something that\u2019s bigger than themselves . . . something, beyond a simple profit motive, that excites them and makes them feel good about themselves.<\/li>\n<li>It\u2019s good for community relations. Whether your community is global or very local, you need the good will and support of that community.\u00a0 Being seen as a good corporate citizen earns you that support.<\/li>\n<li>It\u2019s good for customer relations. Your customers, at least those who see themselves as socially responsible, want to do business with others who are socially responsible.\u00a0 Plus, by doing business with you, they hope the good will you are generating for yourself will also rub off on them.\u00a0 It\u2019s good will by association.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Small companies may see \u201csaving the planet\u201d as the job of big, multi-national companies.\u00a0 Not true.\u00a0 Small companies may have to participate on a smaller scale, but they can still participate in ways that will have a big impact on their respective communities.\u00a0 You can \u201cadopt\u201d a small, local charity.\u00a0 You can set aside a day to staff a food pantry or a soup kitchen or to work on a \u201cHabitat for Humanity\u201d project.\u00a0 Some companies give every employee one day off per year to pursue a charitable activity of their own choosing.\u00a0 So regardless of your size, there are ways to create social value within your community.\u00a0 All you need is the will to do it.<\/p>\n<p>But if by doing good we improve employee relations, community relations, and customer relations, will we necessarily improve our profitability?\u00a0 Almost certainly you will although computing a precise ROI or proving a direct cause\/effect relationship would be tough.\u00a0\u00a0 In this case, you may have to be satisfied that by doing the right things, you\u2019ll be doing things right.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>According to Adam Smith, credited with being the Father of Modern Economics, \u201cIf you continue to operate in your own self-interest, you will do the best good for society.\u201d\u00a0 That sentiment was echoed by American economist and free market champion, Milton Friedman, who said, \u201cThere is only one social responsibility of business \u2013 to use<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/rocksolidbizdevelopment.com\/ourblog\/make-money-good\/\">Read More\u2026<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[39,33,26,23,22],"tags":[114,113],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rocksolidbizdevelopment.com\/ourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/758"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rocksolidbizdevelopment.com\/ourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rocksolidbizdevelopment.com\/ourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rocksolidbizdevelopment.com\/ourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rocksolidbizdevelopment.com\/ourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=758"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/rocksolidbizdevelopment.com\/ourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/758\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":759,"href":"https:\/\/rocksolidbizdevelopment.com\/ourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/758\/revisions\/759"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rocksolidbizdevelopment.com\/ourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=758"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rocksolidbizdevelopment.com\/ourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=758"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rocksolidbizdevelopment.com\/ourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=758"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}