The Meaning of Money

What exactly is GOOD Business?

Once upon a time, good business meant making money.  Period.  If you had a product or service and managed to sell it for a decent profit - that was good business. It still is good business of course- to a degree. Business is about making money - always was and always will be. How else can it sustain itself? Yet is this limited form of good business good enough? What exactly has changed in the big picture of the global economy that makes this simple definition insufficient? The change is pretty simple: The consciousness of money and its clear and direct connection with humanity and nature has shifted in the minds of many. It is no longer sufficient to only "make money." The current financial climate demands that profit makers nclude the Big Picture view and "make money" by first creating value -not just for shareholders, but for customers, clients, and community as well.

Cite the current credit collapse: Yikes! Can it get any worse? The answer is yes - it can and it will. Forgive me. I don't write that to spread doom and gloom to GoodB bloggers. I am normally the ultimate optimist! Yet being so close to the credits markets daily, I am also a realist.  I merely state that the credit crisis is getting worse, because it is. The fallout is going global.

What does that mean for you and me?  It means that a new understanding of what constitutes good business is more necessary now  than ever. After all how did we get into this mess? We didn't think about the little guy, or the big guy or the guy or gal next door. We only thought about ourselves. That old buddy - "Self-interest."  Remember him? We forgot about her - "World-Interest."

We used toxic financial practices of easy fast money, with no checks and balances or rational standards of risk -when nobody was looking. Or I will rephrase that...when everyone was looking the other way. That would mean by the old standard of good business - Pure Profit - the movers and takers of the current credit debacle were just focused on self-interest.  Yet hustling the masses by profiting at the expense of others (at any cost) is sooooo 20th century!

Time for a change. Don't you think?
Whether the old guard wants it or not, the current collapse means they are going to get one. Heads are rolling up and down Wall Street, throughout the national banking system, and into the international banking and investment communities. You might think this is all fine and dandy, the greedy get squeezed, just desserts, vengeance is mine, and all that. But who really pays for this negligence, indifference, and irresponsibility? I do, you do, and everyone else down the line. Not many of us (from the top down and the bottom up) will come out of this panic unscathed.

Why you may ask? Because in the greater scheme of things, it is meant to wake us up.
Wake up America! Time to get the donuts. Wake up Global Community! We are mad as hell and don't want to take it anymore, do we? So what can we mere mortals do about this extraordinary financial debacle?

The current crisis is a golden opportunity for us as a global community - an opportunity to finally establish better business practices and standards for a better world. We need to take advantage of the current climate of fear and the pain endured by those at top of the economic pyramid and say, "Hey guys, it's time. Don't you think?" Time to get on the good business train before it pulls way from the platform without you.

What exactly is Good Business? It's thinking about the other guy or gal. You know the one on the receiving end of the deal. That one. The customer, the employee, the community, all those who share in your good fortune. Basically all of us. In the 21st century, the short-sighted, "take the money and run" profits of the past no longer represents Good Business. Because as the current credit crisis reveals - you can take the money and run, but you can no longer hide. Not in an global economy. 

Monika Mitchell Ressler is the Executive Director and Editor-in-Chief of Good Business International. She co-founded Good Business International in response to the growing need to unify and support the global better business community. Monika is an internationally known leader in the Good Business and “business for a better world” movement. She is a media expert and public speaker on the changing trends in 21st century Better Business.