About this site

There’s a mantra in my family, which is notoriously good at losing stuff: when you’re searching for something that’s missing, Look Under Things.

So: I really want to start a social business. And it doesn’t seem so hard – just bring a great new idea to the table, network the hell out of it, be charismatic, and people will shower you with funding, partnerships, training and awards. But we seem to gloss over one tiny detail: coming up with the great new idea. This blog is an attempt to document my learning, pondering and whining as I search every nook and cranny - in my head and around the world - for a social venture to invest myself in.

Friday, February 1, 2013

In which Joanne encounters an unexpected moral dilemma


So here's an interesting conundrum: 

As a card-carrying Net Impact member and social enterprise/CSR junkie, I believe in incorporating one's values and ethics into the way one does business.  Bill Marriott disagrees. He checks his values at the door, which means, ironically enough, that his hotel chain sides with me on marriage equality:

"In an interview last year with Business Insider, Bill Marriott explained that he personally believed that marriage was between a man and a woman. But he said he does not mix his views on the subject with operation of the business.
'We have to take care of our people, regardless of their sexual orientation or anything else,' Bill Marriott said. 'We have all the American values: the values of hard work, the values of integrity, the values of fairness and respect.'
He further pointed out, 'Our church is very much opposed to alcohol and we're probably one of the biggest sales engines of liquor in the United States. I don't drink. We serve a lot of liquor.'"


Well, crap. Do I applaud the guy because his corporate stance aligns with my politics, or disagree with him for not using business as a force for (his version of) good in the world?

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