Entrepreneurs Are the New Humanitarians But Philanthropy Won't Save Us

Editorial Article: Do The Ends Justify The Means?

Photo by Farrel Samuel on Unsplash

Humanitarians, also known as philanthropists, have been wildly recognized as the richer than rich benefactors for causes they often back to “make the world a better place”.

While this ideal has served millions over countless years, we still face the same world issues we’ve been battling since the dawn of the 21st century. Poverty, World hunger, human physical & mental health, climate change, wars and a myriad of other global & social affairs.

Rich humanitarians have often been lumped into a very empty category called “philanthropy”.

Growing up, I actually believed this was a full time job & later wondered why we as a society needed people to spend the entirety of their lives, fighting for issues that could be solved within a half century by making small but potent changes at the core.

Do the ends justify the means?

The reason why philanthropy, as a catch all response for progress, can't save us, is because giving away large amounts of money doesn't silo societies' rooted issues.

It doesn’t make sense to exploit human labor only to later funnel that profit into human hunger.

The ends can’t justify the means.

If the employees were paid fairly in the beginning, would they be more likely to afford food for themselves, their families & communities?

The second reason is that philanthropy often deflects from the underlying obstacles within corporations that were overlooked at the inception of the company. Masking the symptoms but never healing the disease.

Capitalism then normalizes continual growth year after year. As if this should be the natural occurrence every business experiences- with no fine print or warning of what really happens when every business on the planet is focused on destabilizing extraction.

This means that if you choose to run a business, out of the reigns of that parasitic structure, you lose…but only in that game.

It’s time to reimagine a new game.

I’ve had to ask myself, “What would need to be true for my Aquarian Business to succeed, despite divesting from the pervasiveness of capitalistic structures?”

Two things came to mind right away.

1. My product or service would have to clearly distinguish itself between belonging to either a world of solving problems or for a world of holistic existence.

   1. We often bypass companies that exist as preventative measures and only focus on reactionary modes of surviving.

2. It would have to be quality. Not better than what already exists- just quality. In a league of its own.

The following question goes: Do you have the bravery for what comes next?

Aquarian Entrepreneurs don’t really have the luxury of being mediocre.

In order to create something that doesn’t yet exist or to summon the voice to boldly claim a solution that hasn’t yet been looked at, the main resource mined is courage. (mixed with imagination & a heavy dose of vitality).

If we are to truly anchor in a new world, the businesses that cut these philanthropic checks, (you & me) have to be built with paradigm shifting value systems embedded from the beginning.

This is why having a grounded understanding of your Code of Ethics impacts the foundation from which your ideas will grow.

Not all Aquarian Entrepreneurs will get to start fresh, sowing slowly from the beginning. Some will need to cultivate the bravery & grace to openly tear down & rebuild. In my opinion this is hardest. Having to shift while not being instantly rewarded can do a number on the faith & focus required for what’s ahead.

The good news is that while this pivot might seem like a tiny, non existent drop into the ocean of change, that’s exactly what 71% of the planet is made up of- tiny drops of water.

If only a fraction of the businesses today chose to implement Aquarian Values within the substructures of their business, these drops would add up fast.

• Embrace their Unicorn.

  • Carve a new category or deeply clarify their unique purpose of vision in an already existing one.

• Radical Honesty & Transparency.

  • Build a tested, proven, quality product or service.

• Ethical Advertising & Marketing.

  • Learn their story & creatively share it.

• Intimate Community Building.

  • View their stakeholders as life long collaborators not one time transactions.

• Implement a personal financial backcasting process.

  • Adopt seasons & cycles of generation & regeneration for financial health.

• Sans due date Reform.

  • Evaluate & edit their policies continuously to center human wellness in & out of the workplace. Growth can not be rushed only artificially stimulated.

• Respect time.

  • Realize that their businesses are a living breathing system within an even bigger system- there is no one without the other.

Envision with me.

I wonder what it would look like if humanitarianism, the act of promoting human welfare was already baked into the DNA of each company.

If affirming local & global human life didn’t come after the transaction but before the connection.

In other words, what if your company was the Philanthropic entity itself?

Not needing to rely on your good deed to come when donation season rolled around. This has the possibility of mutating our relationship with money.

Not only seeing it as something to chase and then atone for once we get it. But as a conduit to amplify our initial intention far beyond the confines of our creation- I like to call this, Divine Currency.

Businesses are akin to plants. They hold natural capacities to bear fruit when tended to but also teach us about the wisdom of equilibrium nature provides when species begin to proliferate past their intended role.

When we try to go against what has been designed to protect mutual integrity between human & earth, we will always lose.

What would it look like if entrepreneurs treated their businesses as sentient ecosystems, themselves as tenders of the land, their employees as environmental collaborators, customers as pollinators & communities as natural checks and balances?

Well then, they’d be Aquarian Entrepreneurs. 

With gratitiude & grace,
Jasmine

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