Making a Difference
by Eliyahu Lotzar

February 2005
At two thousand feet above Palo Alto I could see from the San Francisco Bay over the peninsula to the Pacific Ocean and up to San Francisco. At a thousand feet I began to wonder what I’d experience over the next four days of being back on what had been my home turf. Eight months earlier my wife and I had relocated from San Francisco to Santa Fe to get GBPI off the ground. I returned to the Bay Area last November to attend a conference and embark on a marketing campaign for GBPI’s flagship product, Take a New Road. As the plane descended, I pondered for a moment the viability of spending time with old friends, especially my good friend the ocean. I gave up the pondering and said to myself, “If there is time for it, great!”

It turned out to be four days of being on fire for GBPI’s mission with no room for anything else. Half of the fire was devoted to meeting new people and sharing GBPI’s vision of doing business from the heart. The other half was spent being inspired by the discovery that many businesses and organizations are moving in the direction of compassion and unity over selfishness, one of the core principles of GBPI.

The next morning I was in San Francisco for the start of a conference called M.A.D. -- Making a Difference. It was here that I really saw the power of the movement for compassionate action. The conference was sponsored by Berret Koehler publishing. It featured talks by authors, and informal interactions with authors and participants. ‘BK’ is a relatively small publishing company that is getting known for its national best seller Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins. Hundreds of people were assembled who are committed to increase compassion and understanding through their work to stem the tide of selfishness which drives a good part of the American agenda.

John Perkins’ story, which fired my desire for action, helps one understand one facet of why this movement for compassion and humanness is so important. John related how he, and others like him, had used the lure of increasing personal wealth and power for the “elite” of small countries to force their countries into debt to the U.S. government. He explained how economically disadvantaged governments, like Ecuador and Indonesia, are convinced to take out loans from the U.S. that they couldn’t possibly repay. The loans are earmarked for services that large U.S. corporations, such as the Bechtel Corporation, would provide. The billions of dollars for the loans come from U.S. taxpayers, go to the disadvantaged country, and then 90% of the money returns to the corporations primarily benefiting a small number of major shareholders. The disadvantaged country is then forced to owe the U.S. political and military apparatus favors since it can’t repay the debt.

Some see this as “business” or “politics,” and that is justification enough to close one’s heart to the hypocrisy and manipulation behind it. “It’s each man for himself.” “May the better man win.” After John’s talk I saw how this way of doing business degrades humanity and creates chains of selfishness. I was even more committed to do my part via GBPI to create a compassionate, inclusive way of doing business.

The imposition of injustice by the powerful onto the weak is real. But so is love. One example of using love as a basis for business that excited me is a small office supply company called Give Something Back that I met at the conference. This is one of the growing number of ‘for profit’ companies that are changing the definition of for whom profit is generated. They have given away over half their profits to socially and environmentally friendly nonprofit organizations. That’s $2,500,000 since 1991 that could have gone into their own pockets but didn’t.

Here is an example I heard from some employees of how they work. Someone who worked in packaging came in a few days earlier holding a winter coat. He proceeded to walk around to everyone in the company asking for their coats. He said there were people out there who can’t buy coats and who needed them. A coat drive was spontaneously begun. They said many people in various positions in the company spontaneously create service projects for the community. Giving is simply the company’s culture. They in turn were inspired by GBPI when I told them that our company is giving at least ten percent of its income (before profits) to those in need, and that all our employees are also personally committed to give from their personal assets. I watched others at the table take that in. It helped create a level of strength at the table that said, ‘Yes, I can make a difference.’

Here is another example of compassion being the fuel to make a difference. Sustainable Ventures president Theodosia H. Ferguson was sitting at the same table with me and the Give Something Back employees. Sustainable Ventures educates investors to invest in businesses and organizations that work in partnership rather than seek to dominate their industry. She talked about the importance of investing in environmentally friendly (‘green’) companies and in socially responsible organizations. I shared GBPI’s commitment to do business (including investing) from a place of love where no one is excluded. This is a place that is more expansive than promoting an idea such as ‘green is better.’ Reminding people of the joy that comes from accepting people in their uniqueness, out of a sense of shared love beyond any differences, is part of what GBPI is here for, and that day I helped a few more people experience it.

Being at the conference inspired me even more to share this message: It is time for America to shift from a paradigm of ‘me first’ to ‘we together.’ We have so much. We can share. For the sake of the world, for the sake of God’s creation, for our children, even for our own health, we must stop trying to amass wealth exclusively for ourselves. We must live lives that speak a big truth: there is enough for us all. We have the power to make a difference now in countless ways, both big and small.

GBPI is among an increasing number of companies committed to bettering the world through compassion, respecting differences, and working together, making them corporate priorities. We believe the way to make a difference starts with opening our hearts. We hope that GBPI inspires you to make a difference by not hesitating to do even the smallest act that lets someone else know someone out there cares.