I think this is fundamentally a complicated question which doesn’t have a simple black and white answer. It depends a lot on the ethical and moral principles of the entrepreneur, and how important these principles are to him or her.
But I think that the number one priority would always be to have a product for which there is a public who will want it and who will pay for it. Otherwise there is no “business”. But this product could be good and ethical, could be neutral, or could even be harmful or criminal. The main point is: “Is there a public who will want this product when they find out about it, and who will pay for it?”
In ALL cases this has to be number one. Otherwise you can’t get it into the real world. You could get it into the fictional world by writing a compelling story about it - a piece of fiction. But that is another endeavor entirely.
The ethical/moral questions might be:
- Is it healthy for the individual?
- Is it environmentally friendly?
- Is it helpful to good people, meaning people with good intentions?
There are undoubtedly other principles that can be added to this list. But let’s say for the moment that this is a complete list.
Then the entrepreneur would give a ranking for each of these principles. How important is each one on a scale of zero to ten? Once the person has this, then he or she will have a sort of template of how to focus his/her activities.
Many products are successful, but the products themselves are not actually good for the buyer/consumer, or not ethical overall.
Sorry to be so long winded about this. But like I said, I don’t think this is a simple black or white type of question.
Thanks for reading this. And thanks for having such an incredible and inspiring podcast.
I think this is fundamentally a complicated question which doesn’t have a simple black and white answer. It depends a lot on the ethical and moral principles of the entrepreneur, and how important these principles are to him or her.
But I think that the number one priority would always be to have a product for which there is a public who will want it and who will pay for it. Otherwise there is no “business”. But this product could be good and ethical, could be neutral, or could even be harmful or criminal. The main point is: “Is there a public who will want this product when they find out about it, and who will pay for it?”
In ALL cases this has to be number one. Otherwise you can’t get it into the real world. You could get it into the fictional world by writing a compelling story about it - a piece of fiction. But that is another endeavor entirely.
The ethical/moral questions might be:
- Is it healthy for the individual?
- Is it environmentally friendly?
- Is it helpful to good people, meaning people with good intentions?
There are undoubtedly other principles that can be added to this list. But let’s say for the moment that this is a complete list.
Then the entrepreneur would give a ranking for each of these principles. How important is each one on a scale of zero to ten? Once the person has this, then he or she will have a sort of template of how to focus his/her activities.
Many products are successful, but the products themselves are not actually good for the buyer/consumer, or not ethical overall.
Sorry to be so long winded about this. But like I said, I don’t think this is a simple black or white type of question.
Thanks for reading this. And thanks for having such an incredible and inspiring podcast.