I fundamentally believe that businesses can be a force for good in the world. The German multi-hyphenate content creator (who lived before we called coined that term), Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, is credited with this gem: "Let everyone sweep in front of his own door, and the whole world will be clean."
With the recent SCOTUS rulings this week and legislative changes that have people in heated debates, I would love to see businesses, institutions, and other private organizations, and the leaders that run them, stepping up to be the good they want to see in the world. Not because they have to legally, but because they want to and because they can.
What if, through the dedicated effort of everyone creating space for others to do their best work, we could make our workplaces more diverse and help under-represented students achieve their dreams of a college education? What if we could give people viable economic options (like good paying jobs and new employee benefits, as a start) to help others avoid, pay down, and pay off student loans and pay it forward to other students or their families who want to follow in their path in a sustainable flywheel? What if we could encourage and support entrepreneurship to grow the pie for everyone? What if each business committed to its own employees and to its customers, whom they should know better than anyone, to do a bit better every day? Imagine what could happen if we were just naive enough to believe it could be accomplished!
Goethe is also credited with my favorite inspirational quote, which applies here as well. "Whatever you do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now."