CHAPTER TWO
The Question of Business Purpose
RULE #2Businesses Serve Many Objectives beyond Shareholder Value
Profits sustain us, but they don’t define us.—MARJORIE SCARDINO, FORMER CEO, PEARSON
KAREN BRENNER teaches Law and Business at New York University. She takes her students through a simple exercise each semester: filing to obtain a license to open a business. It costs $60 and requires you to fill out a form that asks the purpose of the enterprise. It’s a teachable moment: Purpose is the starting point.
Sadly, the advice typically given by your accountant, should you consult one, is to say that the purpose is whatever the law deems permissible. But the lesson from Karen’s classroom still stands. Because you are the principal of the business, ...
Get The Six New Rules of Business now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.
