The profit orientation is only one orientation of a person. The same people who are interested in profit-making are also selfless. I am not saying that capitalist theory is wrong. I am saying that it has not been interpreted and practiced fully.
Interpretation
The quote reflects on the dual nature of individuals who seek profit while also being selfless.
Muhammad Yunus emphasizes that people are not solely driven by profit motives; instead, they can embody multiple orientations, including selflessness and altruism. He argues that while capitalist theory has its merits, it has not been fully understood or applied, suggesting that a more balanced approach could yield better outcomes for society.
In practice
In a speech about ethical entrepreneurship, one might say, 'As Muhammad Yunus noted, the profit orientation is only one aspect of who we are.'
Civilization has given us enormous successes: going to the moon, technology. But then this is the civilisation that took us to debt, environmental crisis, every single crisis. We need a civilization where we say goodbye to these things.
What I did not know yet about hunger, but would find out over the next twenty-one years, was that brilliant theorists of economics do not find it worthwhile to spend time discussing issues of poverty and hunger. They believe that these will be resolved when general economic prosperity increases. These economists spend all their talents detailing the process of development and prosperity, but rarely reflect on the origin and development of poverty and hunger. A a result, poverty continues.
People.. were poor not because they were stupid or lazy. They worked all day long, doing complex physical tasks. They were poor because the financial institution in the country did not help them widen their economic base.
Some people think that poor people are lazy. Actually, it takes a lot of work to survive when you are dirt-poor.
Once poverty is gone, we'll need to build museums to display its horrors to future generations. They'll wonder why poverty continued so long in human society - how a few people could live in luxury while billions dwelt in misery, deprivation and despair.
By simply capitalizing on core strengths and knowledge, companies and entrepreneurs can engage in an emerging business model that will enable them to create - and demonstrate - real, sustainable social impact in society.
The spirit is the true self, not that physical figure which can be pointed out by your finger.
I don't do formal debates, because formal debates where you have two people up on a stage in equal status, and each of them is given 20 minutes to give their point of view, and then 10 minutes for a rebuttal, or whatever, that creates the illusion that you really do have here two equal points of view of equal scientific standing.
Debt, n. An ingenious substitute for the chain and whip of the slavedriver.
Boredom is the feeling that everything is a waste of time; serenity, that nothing is.
Public Opinion... an attempt to organize the ignorance of the community, and to elevate it to the dignity of physical force.
. And it is youth who must inherit the tribulation, the sorrow and the triumphs that are the aftermath of war.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.