Is Profit the True Purpose of business?

Business that doesn’t make profit is a hobby, but…

John Mackey is the founder of a large international chain of organic supermarkets called Wholefoods Markets. The company has been highly profitable ever since John founded it in the early eighties and it has paid a dividend to its shareholders every year of its existence. Amazon purchased the company for untold billions of dollars and John Mackey is now one of the world’s richest people. John clearly knows a thing or two about building great businesses and about making profit in business. And: “How to make more money or profit in business”, is one of the 7 Big Questions about building a beautiful business and life.

John Mackey also wrote a book however, called Conscious Capitalism and in it  he says something that made the penny drop for me. He says this:

“Thinking that the Purpose of business is to make money is as silly as thinking that the Purpose of people is to eat food. We need to eat food, we eat food all our lives, and good food is better than bad food and without food we die, but eating food is not the reason we exist. We eat food so we can make good on our Purpose in life”.

John says it’s the same with business and money. The business must make money and profit and generate cash flow (and plenty of it!), but only so that it can make good on its greater purpose.

So, let’s be clear about that: making money is the means to an end, and without profit and cash flow, the business cannot perform its function.

• The 7 Rules for making money in your business

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