The content of a business seminar put on by state agencies may not be sexy, but this one included a surprise. As a business consultant and coach, I attend seminars to stay abreast of changes in laws and regulations that impact businesses at the state and federal levels. This week the Board of Equalization invited a keynote speaker that inspired many and made the rest think twice.
Joseph N. Sanberg spoke about coming from poverty to operating billion dollar businesses. That was impressive, but his message was not about success. It was about capitalism. Joe described our form of capitalism is, for the most part, the capitalism of the self, meaning that businesses are started solely to make money – our national pastime. Joe offered another form of capitalism that he and many others subscribed to – capitalism of the other, meaning start a business to serve the many.
In his view, design your business for your customer versus creating your business just to make money. If you develop your business to serve your customer, money will come.
Joe feels this perspective is essential because capitalism of self, places money in the hands of the wealthy who have enough and have no need to buy. Capitalism of the self keeps money out of the hands of those with less money but who need to buy. With this in mind, Joe was a force behind California adopting the Earned Income Credit. One of his strategies for getting money into the hands of those who have the need to buy.
Joe’s advice is to obsess about ways to serve your customers and do right by your employees. He is an evangelist for capitalism for others. He is a public and private sector entrepreneur and investor with a desire to harness innovative ideas to improve the quality of life for all.
Among Joe’s many private and public companies:
• His first company was Blue Apron, the largest fresh meal-kit delivery company in the United States. Joe created this company for his customers, working parents who needed a fast and simple way to provide quality meals and have a family dinner together.
• His company Aspiration, a mass market financial services company that bring investment and savings products to the middle class.
• Because he believes entrepreneurs have an important role to play in public policy, he co-founded the Economic Innovation Group whose mission is to bring business leaders together with public policy leaders to expand economic opportunity. On the board of UC Riverside School of Public Policy, he gave full scholarships in this program to seven graduate students so far.
• Joe recently founded Golden State Opportunity, a platform to support efforts to improve the lives of lower and middle-income Californians.
• As a founding member of Bright Funds, Joe hopes to increase employee charitable giving through a digital platform for companies.
The list of Joe’s efforts to create capitalism for the many goes and his message is consistent. Create a business to serve your customers and your employees and the money will come. Get money into the hands of people who need it. In this way, we have an economy that thrives and people have a quality of life.