Many commercial companies are beginning to realize that corporate responsibility is actually good business. The concept does not mean sacrificing the bottom line in pursuit of trendy causes. Rather, it means incorporating a business plan that not only maximizes profits but improves society as a whole, a company that makes money and gives back. A healthy, growing community is one that is filled with customers who want to buy goods and services.
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Hearing the word “ecology” will likely bring up vision of texts books and late nights studying for high school science exams. Or, for those of us who have blocked out 3rd Period Biology from our memories, it might bring to mind Paulie Shore dancing around a BioDome. Ecology is the branch of biology dealing with the relations and interactions between organisms and their environment, including other organisms. So how could a word that reminds you of the Safety Dance and lab goggles be at all related to the economy? Read more »

At any organization, any business, there are bound to be opportunities for employees to take an unethical “easy road”. If the company has fostered an ethically sound environment, most people will avoid cutting corners, however, if people think that they can succeed at work by acting unethically and get away with it, they will. Read more »

The common refrain among startups is that there is a shortage of funding options available to them. Banks won’t touch early stage companies due to the lending risk. But venture capital usually isn’t a choice either because most VC firms don’t invest in early-stage companies until they are further along, perhaps reaching a benchmark such as proof of concept or a prototype. Many startups get around that obstacle through convertible notes, a form of debt financing. But there’s a twist on this form of debt financing that a growing number of startups are choosing: convertible equity, a startup-friendly seed financing vehicle that is replacing convertible debt notes.
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After getting in trouble in 2015 for the overly intense Amazonian workplace culture, Jeff Bezos composed the following words. These appeared in his annual letter to investors:

A word about corporate cultures: for better or for worse, they are enduring, stable, hard to change. They can be a source of advantage or disadvantage. You can write down your corporate culture, but when you do so, you’re discovering it, uncovering it – not creating it. Read more »