“You can be in business and also do amazing things in this world. When I started out about 25 years ago, they were seen as mutually exclusive. You couldn't be doing good and also making money.”
That’s a quote from Fiona Gilligan, Founder of Trauma Management Group (TMG), the largest industry-leading company in Canada providing trauma response services and training. I talked to Fiona for the February 11 podcast episode of I’m a Millionaire! So Now What?
Fiona is one entrepreneur among many who has proven you CAN build a profitable company while doing good.
In last week’s post I quoted from Built to Last, by Jim Collins, who has spent decades researching what makes businesses great and what makes companies endure.
Collins found that successful companies - those that continue to profit and grow, those that leave a strong legacy even after their purpose-driven founder has left – have clear answers to the questions: What do we stand for? Why do we exist?
As someone focused on the Self Made Nation -- that is, those people generating wealth by starting businesses, I’m vocal about being unapologetically wealthy. Because everybody I’ve spoken to has a compelling WHY for starting their businesses. Nobody I’ve interviewed yet was driven solely by profit.
Built to Last supports this, and echoes Fiona’s findings too.
“Contrary to business school doctrine, “maximizing shareholder wealth” or “profit maximization” has not been the dominant driving force or primary objective through the history of the visionary companies. Visionary companies pursue a cluster of objectives, of which making money is only one – and not necessarily the primary one. Yes, they seek profits, but they’re equally guided by a core ideology – core values and sense of purpose beyond just making money. Yet, paradoxically, the visionary companies make more money than the more purely profit-driven comparison companies.”
I see that as extremely good news!! Like Fiona discovered, not ONLY can successful businesses embrace both positive change and profit, but in fact, the stronger their purpose, the more profit they’ll realize. Fiona expands on this:
“You could be a food-preneur, you could be a chef, you could be in mental health, you could be anything. We have to get much more comfortable with people doing good and also being really confident in the fact that yes, I am also making profit from this and I am making a living and I am creating jobs and I am reinvesting in the economy and all of that.”
Successful businesses profit AND do good. Successful founders do good AND profit.
Which is how Fiona spends her time now, since leaving TMG (which continues to thrive):
“I made a decision years ago that when I reached the point in my life where I was ready, I would start to give back, and part of that is through providing strategic advisory investments.”
Whatever good your company is doing – whether you’re reinvesting your profits to leverage good, or whether positive change itself is the WHY that drives your business, your vision is bigger than you and will outlast you.
I encourage you to spend some dedicated time and strategy space to consider the impact you want to have in the world, how your business will continue to fulfill your vision beyond your involvement, and how you can craft your multi-million-dollar cash-rich exit.
Double to Sell: How to Make a Cash Rich Exit will feature a panel of entrepreneurs who have successfully exited and who share lessons from the trenches. I’ll reveal those panelists soon and feature each panelist in this space and on I’m a Millionaire! So Now What? (listen and subscribe here).
Are you a visionary founder? What is the WHY driving your business? And what positive impact are you having on your customers, community and the wider economy? As always, I’d love to hear from you. You can get in touch with me via email here.