During my MBA program, I took a class called Service Design from Dr. Scott Sampson (you can see his site
here). He taught me one of the most valuable lessons I learned in school. He said, "When you graduate and go out into the workforce, you are going to be a steward of business. I want you to think about what that means." I've given a lot of thought to that lately. A first reaction is to think that it means to be ethical, but I believe it goes much beyond that. To me, it means to use business as a force for good in this world.
Many people seem to pitch entrepreneurship as a good way to get rich fast so you can travel the world and do whatever it is you want to do. That may be true, but I'm an advocate of putting your heart behind your ventures. Do something that will make this world a better place, in whatever small way you can. Do something sustainable. Do something beneficial. This doesn't mean focus only on social ventures. It means to truly generate value for your customers. That is what being a steward of business is.
