BUSINESS IS FOR DOING GOOD, NOT JUST FOR MAKING A PROFIT!!

The video by Elder Gay was very long and I thought I would never get through it. I am grateful I did. The story of the young girl in Darfur and the dream Brother Johnson had 20 years before where his dead brother showed him Elder Gay coming to the rescue and building the school were extremely powerful. I have been given so many blessings in my life. I pray that the Lord will use me to help and serve others in whatever way I can. This is what I want Howling Heart to be…a place of refuge, of sanctuary, a place to help others and to serve many. I pray this dream will come to pass and we will be privileged enough to help many. I am grateful for this video and its reminding message that business is meant to serve and help and rescue. Our business will do just that, I promise!

I finished the book “A Field Guide for the Hero’s Journey” and I am SO grateful I read that book. I’m also grateful I purchased all of my books this semester because I will be referring back to every one of them. There is SO much good and uplifting information in these books. I will reread them as I progress along my “Hero’s Journey.”

Muhammed Yunus…what can I say about this man? He is amazing. One of the comments he made that really struck a cord with me was, “All human beings are endowed with unlimited potential. Because of barriers created by our societies, individual people never get the full opportunity to bring out their potential.” Isn’t that what we teach in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints? We teach that we are all sons and daughters of Heavenly Parents who love us all, individually, and we are of infinite worth! Thank you Dr. Yunus!

Are We Not All Beggars by Elder Holland…oh how I love this man!!! I don’t know if it’s right or not to have favorites among the leadership of the church, but I do and Elder Holland is one of my favorites! I just love listening to him and his testimony! I am sad that when I attended BYU Provo and he was the President, I didn’t take more advantage of listening to him speak. I don’t believe I ever heard him speak when I was there. I didn’t understand the importance of those devotionals. What a pity!

One of the things that stuck out to me in this reading was when Elder Holland spoke about Mary anointing Jesus and Judas Iscariot murmuring against her because of the wastefulness of her act. I love what the Savior said in response, “She hath done what she could.” Because of my financial circumstances, I have often found myself unable to help those around me in any significant way and that has made me feel bad about myself. I am grateful for the reminder of Mother Theresa when she reminded the reporter, “What we do is nothing but a drop in the ocean. But if we didn’t do it, the ocean would be one drop less [than it is].” I can’t do much, but I can do something.

Acton Hero: Sarah Endline is a woman who loves candy! You can see her passion when she talks about her business. The greatest takeaway I got from this was there are a lot of programs to help women entrepreneurs! That is very exciting news for me to hear. I want to be like Sarah and create a culture in my business, not just a company. I want it to be a place where people want to work and join the “family.” To me, that is one of the most important things I want in my business.

Larry Brilliant and small pox…I never had a clue how bad that disease was. I never understood what it took to eradicate it from the planet. I never knew the army of doctors and nurses who went door to door vaccinating. I just…never knew. The effort and results are nothing if not miraculous. The amazing part about the whole story, to me, is the fact that the world united in an effort to eradicate this terrible plague and they succeeded. My question is, why can’t we do this with everything? Why can’t we join forces to wipe out AIDS, Malaria, and poverty? We can…we just choose not to. We choose not to get involved. We choose not to become heroes. We choose.

I’m supposed to answer the following questions regarding my reading in the article “What’s a Business For?”
Based on what you read in the first two pages (pages 3 and 4), why are virtue and integrity so vital to an economy?

People need to feel they can trust those in power or who have perceived authority. When trust is missing, it is almost impossible to have success.
According to Charles Handy, what is the “real justification” for the existence of businesses?

The purpose of a business is not solely to make a profit, but it is to make a profit so that the business can do something more or something better.
What are two solutions proposed by Handy that you agree with? Why?

A good business is a community with members who have the right to vote or express their views on major issues. When you are a part of a community and feel valuable, you tend to work harder for that community. That is why I think this is important.

There should be a Hippocratic Oath for business wherein they agree to do no harm regarding the environment, conditions of employment, community relations, and ethics. This shouldn’t need to be legislated. This should be something we all just do innately! This is the golden rule of doing unto others as we would have them do unto us. Whether in life or in business, this is a great policy for us all to have.

This was a good week and I look forward to using these reminders to uplift and rescue those around me. I want to go about doing good and serving and using my business in the same way!





(B183 LESSON 11)