VII. ON PROFIT AND PURPOSE: RECONCILING THE DIVIDE

We reject both the worship of profit and the shame of it.

We assert without apology that profit is good. It is not the purpose of business, but it is a powerful signal, the market’s applause for having served well. Profit, when rightly earned, is not extraction—it is evidence of contribution. It is an index of altruism, the degree to which we have improved the flourishing of another human being.

We reject the false dichotomy that pits profit against purpose—as though virtue and value creation are in opposition. This view is a vestige of moral confusion, born from a distrust of commerce and an impoverished understanding of enterprise.

Yet profit must remain the result, not the raison d’être. When profit becomes the sole purpose, it corrupts the enterprise, distorts the incentives, and severs the moral root of the profession. We must recover the hierarchy: human flourishing is the purpose; profit is the consequence.