Any successful business reflects the combination of ideas joined with an important expression of love through service to other humans.
Carl Schramm
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Commencement 2009, 2009
The Story Behind This Quote
Carl Schramm, president of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, challenged the common narrative that a career in the nonprofit sector is inherently more virtuous than working in business. He argued that the call to service is the same whether in business or the nonprofit world, and that to suggest otherwise advances a false dichotomy. Schramm illustrated his point with the story of Chris Michel, a Navy veteran and Illinois graduate who founded Military.com to help returning veterans navigate the federal bureaucracy. Michel's company was both a profitable business and a pure expression of love formed to help others. Schramm insisted that good business, at its core, is service, and that greedy bankers and corrupt politicians should not be allowed to define what business means.