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Venture Meets Mission

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Venture Meets Mission

Aligning People, Purpose, and Profit to Innovate and Transform Society

Stanford Graduate School of Business,

15 min read
7 take-aways
Audio & text

What's inside?

Entrepreneur-government collaborations may offer the most effective way of addressing society’s problems.

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Editorial Rating

8

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Recommendation

Entrepreneurs who can collaborate at the intersection of innovation, business, and government may now offer the best way to address society’s problems. Academics Arun Gupta, Gerard George, and Thomas J. Fewer contend that today’s issues call for entrepreneurs whose companies offer societal value beyond profit maximization. They argue that governments haven’t kept up with transformative technologies such as smartphones, social media, and artificial intelligence, and may be better able to deploy such tech if they work with private businesses. These public-private ventures also may offer the best career paths for those seeking not only money, but also an inspiring purpose that fulfills their larger quest for mission, meaning, and service.

Summary

The COVID-19 pandemic inspired a generation to shift toward work with meaning and purpose.

Generations occasionally face monumental, existential choices. In 1963, at the height of the Cold War, the threat of thermonuclear war was very real. Speaking at the UN, President John F. Kennedy said that members of a new generation should harness their power and energy to promote democracy and innovation at every level – public and private.

Kennedy captured a pivotal moment in the 1960s, just as the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic – with its death tolls, economic damage, and psychological strain – brought about another crucial inflection point.

The pandemic spurred a “generational reset” and inspired renewed respect for public service. During the pandemic, millennials and gen Xers were among society’s most proactive members. Young people wanted to work with a higher sense of purpose. They wanted to fuel a larger mission to change society for the better. 

A mission operates on a different level than a purpose. Someone with a sense of mission looks outward, not inward, and seeks to benefit others, such as a community or society as a whole. When...

About the Authors

Arun Gupta,  a Faculty Lecturer at Stanford University, created and teaches the “Valley Meets Mission” course, where he urges students aspiring to Silicon Valley success to pursue solutions to world problems. Gerard George is a professor of entrepreneurship and innovation at Georgetown University, where Thomas J. Fewer is a postdoctoral fellow in the Georgetown Entrepreneurship Initiative.

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