My wife and I have three children, ages 20, 18, and 15.
And there are 6 very specific reasons why we chose to have kids in the first place:
- To change the channel for me when the TV remote goes missing
- To fetch things for me that are out of my reach
- To give me someone on whom to lay the blame when there’s a mess
- To take care of chores like mowing the lawn or putting out the trash
- To save me money by giving me a nice tax deduction
- To take care of us when we get older
See? A pretty good list, don’t you think?
OK, so those aren’t the real reasons why I had children. It would be very silly to make the decision to have kids based solely upon pragmatic reasons. Not to mention that if I did, I would be seriously disappointed.
When I ask my kids to do something for me, they look at me as if I have three heads, and then go on with whatever they were doing. And the tax deduction I get certainly doesn’t make up for the amount of money they have cost me over the years.
Now in the business world, things are different. And they have to be different. But, I think we’re headed in a new direction.
Do we make our business and marketing decisions based solely on pragmatism and conventional wisdom? While we need to make sound decisions that are based on good research, not every “smart” business decision is a “good” business decision.
This is especially true if you are of the school of thought (as I am) that a business doesn’t exist solely for the purpose of making money.
A business SHOULD exist to meet needs. To provide goods and services that help others. And to do good.
Hopefully, when you went in to business, or signed on for your latest job, you did so with more than making money in mind. Hopefully you love what you do. Hopefully you feel satisfied and content at the end of the day because of a job well done. Hopefully you are making a difference. Hopefully you are building fulfilling relationships with your coworkers and customers.
And hopefully you are doing good for others.
We had children not just for our sake, but for their sake, and for the sake of building a family; a community.
Why are you in business? And how does it impact the way you approach marketing in general, and Social Media specifically?
