Earlier this year, nearly 200 CEOs issued a mission statement proclaiming corporations should serve more than the bottom line, that shareholder value is no longer everything. Rather, CEOs from the Business Roundtable argued that companies must invest in employees and deliver value to customers. Signers of the proclamation included Alex Gorsky of Johnson & Johnson and David Taylor of Procter & Gamble.

Add to that list, former Unilever CEO Paul Polman, who formed Imagine, a consulting firm focused on environmental and social responsibility. Polman recently told The New York Times that when he became Unilever CEO, he brought the management team to Port Sunlight, to the former home of company founder William Lever.

Lever built Port Sunlight, a model village in the UK to accommodate workers in the Lever soap factory. According to Polman, Lever had the highest number of volunteers in World War I because he guaranteed the wages and the jobs and he helped the wives when the men were gone. Lever introduced pensions in the UK. He brought these values to the company, and he believed in shared prosperity.

“Some people think greed is good. But over and over it’s proven that ultimately generosity is better,” Polman told The Times.

In other words, it’s no longer business as usual.

Entrepreneurs certainly agree. Our staff speaks to startup leaders on a daily basis and nearly all of them tell us that making money isn’t the primary reason why they got their start.

Some do it for health reasons, others because they insist they can make better things, but all of them, to some degree, think that they can make things better. If you’re an entrepreneur determined to make the world a better place as you make better household and personal products, check out our contract manufacturing directory. Here, you’re sure to find a manufacturing partner who shares your vision.

Tom Branna
Editorial Director
tbranna@rodmanmedia.com