Business should not be a selfish game. If you want to create wealth for yourself, then aim to create wealth for society as a whole.
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is at the core of business: part of making history and contributing to our communities and enriching ourselves. The goodwill and more passionate relationship generated within the community translates into a far higher demand for our products and services, into more love and loyalty for our brand, and so into major contributions to the bottom line. This creates a virtuous cycle through which everyone is enriched.
Corporate social responsibility is not a sideline or something that exists simply to make up for being too materialistic and selfish in advancing businesses at the expense of everything else. CSR is not charity; it is an investment made in order to create value and does not differentiate between commercial and CSR activities.
If you try to create profit in any other way, you may succeed in the short term, but in the end the natural movement of society will crush you and you are bound to lose. If you try to create wealth by being great to society, you will create the greatest level of profit.
As the Arab Spring swept the Middle East, old ways began to disappear. Communications technology is breaking down national barriers and undermining rulers, while the youth look to new role models. Instead of the litany of Arab political failures, they look to business and the arts for inspiration.
Dr. Saad Al Barrak has been a pioneer of this Arab renaissance. In just seven years (2002-2009), he transformed a moribund ex-state-owned telecom operator, MTC, from its base of 500,000 customers in Kuwait into an international company that reached over 72 million customers across 23 countries in the Middle East and Africa, introducing the world's first boundary-less roaming.
A PASSION FOR ADVENTURE (Bloomsbury USA) shares his story and his distinctive philosophy of leadership and management, insisting that the purpose of business is to create "a wonderful world."
Source: Saad Al Barrak: Passion for Adventure: Turning Zain into a Telecom Giant