Here’s a commonly held and very bad Idea: Business is just about making money.
The most deceptive ideas always contain a grain of the truth. This one does too. Business is about making money. But it is not just about making money.
From a worldly perspective, businesses are formed to provide for the economic security of the folks who own and work in that business by providing goods and services that are valuable to their customers. Since food and shelter are basic needs, a business, to be viable, must meet those needs. And it does that by providing goods and services for money. Money then becomes one of the keys to any business. A
business that doesn’t create sufficient income is not going to stay in business for long.
The problem arises when the businesspeople focus solely on money as the rationale for the business. When they do that, they miss all the other incredible benefits that accrue to themselves, their employees, their families, their customers, and to society in general.
Sustainability
A business doesn’t necessarily have to create profits, but it does need to be sustainable. In other words, money is important. It’s a core reason for starting a business. But profits aren’t nearly as important as sustainability. And profits aren’t just for the purpose of buying the business owner a better car or bigger home. As we saw in the parable of the bags of gold, reinvesting in the growth of the business
is a biblical strategy. Profits fund and empower growth.
Unfortunately, our popular culture promotes a distorted picture of the purpose of a business. The media glorify the “self-made” millionaire, Wall Street awards huge bonuses for those who reach revenue goals, and CEOs are awarded obscene bonuses for achieving quarterly results in publicly held companies. The emphasis on making money has never been more pronounced or glorified.
