Julie said:
>to ....[At one stage they even had an eminent MIT professor come to speak
>to us..... he said "you are not in the x business...... you are in the
>money business"!!!!! - they all turned to chuckle at me at that point...
I seem to recall reading somewhere (perhaps in Dave Packard's book) Dave
Packard's belief that the reason an organization exists is to accomplish
something that an individual can't do. That, more than profits or
philanthropy or ... seems to capture the essence of all organizations.
The organization's values determine what that organization is out to do.
At the risk of blowing one's own company's horn inappropriately, I work
for one corporation that seems to be able to put profits in a reasonable
perspective (see http://www.hp.com:80/abouthp/hpway.htm). I know there
are other companies out there which have related values and which are
successful in profits and in contribution to society.
Regards,
Bill
--
Bill Harris Hewlett-Packard Co.
R&D Productivity Department Lake Stevens Division
domain: billh@lsid.hp.com M/S 330
phone: (206) 335-2200 8600 Soper Hill Road
fax: (206) 335-2828 Everett, WA 98205-1298
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations
For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>