Week 6 - Entrepreneur Journal

Lessons Learned:

What is a business for?

This week’s readings and videos helped me to gain a better perspective on businesses and their purposes – or what should be their purposes.  It seems that today, so many businesses are simply concerned with the bottom line rather than what is best for the long-term success and growth of their company.  If you want to leave a true legacy, look beyond yourself, don’t worry about what investors or shareholders might think, and do what is best for the company as a whole.

We must always maintain integrity and be true to ourselves and others.  Honesty is vital for a company’s success.  While a company may feel like they can get away with some discrepancies or dishonesties, those things will always catch up with them in one way or another.  Virtue and integrity are vital for a company as well as for individuals.  Those qualities build trust.  If others do not trust you or your company, you or your company will suffer.  If we strive to  increase our virtue and integrity, people will trust us and our businesses will blossom.  Rationalization has plagued the society as business leaders fudge numbers and do what looks best at that moment.

I also learned more about the purpose of profits.  Profits should be used to do something more or better – not just to accumulate wealth and status.  We should make profits so they can become something greater!  Learning about this perspective has helped me to see the importance of using our resources to improve the world around us.