Would you do something that you consider against your business morals to fund a project with good intentions?
I’m not talking anything illegal, more along the lines of morally questionable such as working for gambling companies.
The project with good intentions is hiring apprentices and creating a training program and marketing service for new businesses.
What would you do?
Replies8
- Is the trade-off worth it? Then maybe? But is this something you regret to take to your grave? And do you really have to? The beauty of running your own business is that you have the choice and the power to say no.Personally, I have invested in defence, tobacco and pharmaceutical in the past. I’m not proud of it and probably never repeat that again but at that time I felt ok about it and I have no massive regret.What is your level of righteousness?
- @Anna Rose Kerr thanks for the input Anna, it definitely needs some work.
- @ɐɹoᗡ ɐuu∀ ˥ thanks for the reply, yeah totally agree, I mean my own moral compass isn’t too worried about working with gaming companies, I did for years, but now that I’m a business owner o like that I have the choice to use the money for something else than lining my own pockets.Who knows maybe they won’t want to actually work with me anyway!
- @Caroline Bottomley thanks for the replies. So the project I have in mind is creat a program of cut price marketing services for companies that have sustainable or ethical business practices at their core. The project will be supported by our senior team members but administered by juniors and apprentices. The idea is to encourage young people to work with businesses with a social conscious, and get some fantastic experience doing it.I appreciate that probably creates more questions than it answers, and it’s just a concept so far not got the details on how exactly it’ll play out.
- Hi Sam,I would say it really depends on your personal level what you can sleep with. If you would really look into things every single person does unethical things on a daily basis what seems absolutely acceptable fi. eating meat.I personally find it easy to drop out the companies that not so ethical beacuse they usually not paying a fair rate and than so it's super easy and straight forward to say for them that I don't do things like that. In worst option when I'm really in need to take a project like that just to keep up the lights than don't feel to bad about but surely they don't get the same treatment than for example a small ethical brand. By the end of the day the system is wrong that allows not ethical businesses an existence.
- But more specifically, what does "do something ... to fund a project with good intentions?" mean?
- Fantastic question. I just signed up to Ethical Consumer mag https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/ so I know a lot more about how eg Amazon conduct their business. I use the magazine to advise my personal purchasing decisions.Using that framework: 1/ it's hard for a company to be perfect 2/ it's much easier to like a company who are working on becoming more ethical (which pre-supposes they're prepared to be transparent about where they're not ethical) 3/ when I have a choice, I buy from the company with better ethics.So thinking about it, I guess I'll apply that thinking to my work & business decisions.
- Nope.Of course everyone's moral line is in a different place. But if it's something the business knows people won't feel good about, then the answer is always no. Also, sounds like if the "good" project is hiring apprentices, it needs a more sustainable and less harmful funding model to succeed.
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