Business has purpose too. It's providing a good or service that someone is voluntarily engaging in because they derive some benefit out of it. That's exciting to be part of. If the business creates more value for people than it spends on creating that, it profits, and incentivizes the business to keep going. It's a win-win in that each party gets something they want, the good/service or money. A business that is losing money is either not creating something that society values, or is doing it at too high a cost and is being wasteful of resources. This is a signal that they should change strategy to become profitable (create a better product, or do it cheaper) or close down and allow those resources to be allocated elsewhere.
Yes, this is an idealized view and there are business that profit from shady or fraudulent practices or rent seeking behavior. Over time, businesses that treat customers or workers unfairly will fail as fewer and fewer will want to do business with them or work for them, assuming the existence of competition or the possibility of new competition which has yet to be created. By all means, if a company you join is doing something unethical you should follow your conscience and consider leaving.
Maybe I'm lucky to have never been part of a team that focuses solely on profit for profit's sake. Profit should be the reward for having a well run business. We always focused on creating products that were helpful to customers, controlling costs, and reducing risk. Profit naturally follows from that.
As others have stated, big companies can be slow moving and bureaucratic as well but even at that level it might be an improvement over government. It also varies a lot based on the company and the team.
Yes, this is an idealized view and there are business that profit from shady or fraudulent practices or rent seeking behavior. Over time, businesses that treat customers or workers unfairly will fail as fewer and fewer will want to do business with them or work for them, assuming the existence of competition or the possibility of new competition which has yet to be created. By all means, if a company you join is doing something unethical you should follow your conscience and consider leaving.
Maybe I'm lucky to have never been part of a team that focuses solely on profit for profit's sake. Profit should be the reward for having a well run business. We always focused on creating products that were helpful to customers, controlling costs, and reducing risk. Profit naturally follows from that.
As others have stated, big companies can be slow moving and bureaucratic as well but even at that level it might be an improvement over government. It also varies a lot based on the company and the team.