Jerry Greenfield Quotes

Few industries have the ability to transform society like tech, yet too few companies are asking the questions or working on the problems that would create meaningful social change.

Let's face it: we live at a time when government is less and less powerful, less and less effective, and the agent of social change, at least for the immediate future, is the corporation.

Someone needs to remind American CEOs that if you can't run a company that is innovative, financially sound and doesn't poison the rest of us, You can't run a company.

It is time for corporate America to become 'the third pillar' of social change in our society, complementing the first two pillars of government and philanthropy. We need the entire private sector to begin committing itself not just to making profits, but to fulfilling higher and larger purposes by contributing to building a better world.

The corporate world has the resources to improve the world. It's where people live and work.

Business can be a source of progressive change.

Business must be the solution, not the problem.

The question is, do corporate executives, provided they stay within the law, have responsibilities in their business activities other than to make as much money for their stockholders as possible? And my answer to that is, no they do not.

Companies … have a broader mandate than apparently the reformers want to give them in the political sphere. It is not only maximizing profits. It is advancing the economic interests of the corporation in many different ways.

Anything that benefits workers, the environment, or the general population is going to reduce their [the corporation’s] profits.

The pendulum of capitalism has swung way too far to only trying to maximize the profit of shareholders rather than many of the traditional other virtues and accomplishments of a company.

Can you imagine what a different world we will live in when businesses do what's right for the communities and the environment in everything they do?

An important priority for me is a business must get their own house in order. Be or become an agent of positive change in your own enterprise and adopt responsible practices to eliminate the risks that often lie at the root of inequality and poverty.

The central task for a business is to make a profit. The challenge is to make a profit by doing things which are genuinely good for people and good for societies.

Innovation and commerce are as powerful tools for creating social progress as they are for driving technological advancement.

The idea that you encourage companies to take their innovative thinkers and think about the most needy - even beyond the market opportunities - that's something that appropriately ought to be done.

I admire companies that give back to communities. It is an absolute essential for organizations to watch, mitigate, and improve their impact on the environment, people, communities, their health and overall well-being. But this is a necessary condition, not a sufficient condition.

A lot of the companies that I am inclined to get involved in have a mission to fix something that is 'broken' in the world.

Are businesses really benefitting if their communities are suffering? It doesn't seem like it.

It's not just about checking the box on corporate social responsibility. It's about hitting our bottom line.

I think it's important for industry to do well. But I want them to do well and do good at the same time.

When I started Participant, I felt that the movie business was ripe for a company that dealt with big issues in a systemic way. I was a little surprised that nobody had done it before. But to most people, entertainment is escapism.

I think CSR, corporate social responsibility, is something that is becoming front and center.

Corporations in communities need to be better neighbors.

I would like people to say that Merck continues to be a company that makes a difference in the world.