Jerry Greenfield Quotes

We need to have business leaders who live by deep, strong principles.

It's good to stand for something, to believe in something and base your business on values.

Doing good business - being ethical, being transparent, being caring, implementing values in your business - makes a difference, and you make money at the same time.

Business executives need to start by spelling out and communicating their values. Then they need to lead by example. This means getting rid of the bad apples and declining opportunities that bring instant wealth at the cost of selling one's soul.

A great business has to have a conscience. You have to know who you are and who you are not.

History has shown that one cannot legislate a culture of integrity. And yet, one of the paramount responsibilities and challenges of corporate leadership is to ensure such a culture.

We will always put our values before our bottom line.

Being good is good business

A business of high principle generates greater drive and effectiveness because people know that they can do the right thing decisively and with confidence.

Corporate executives and business owners need to realize that there can be no compromise when it comes to ethics, and there are no easy shortcuts to success. Ethics need to be carefully sown into the fabric of their companies.

My father taught us that to thrive, excellence in technology, quality, and customer service along with cost competitiveness is a prerequisite. His contribution to business, the economy, and society at large can never be underscored enough.

When we began Starbucks, what I wanted to try to do was to create a set of values, guiding principles, and culture.

I think you're defined as a company by what you choose to do and what you choose not to do.

Companies have to be innovative in leading with values the same way they have to be innovative in their products and services.

You must consider the bottom line, but make it integrity before profits.

Business rests squarely on the law of service. It has for its main reliance truth and faith and justice …. It is one of the greatest contributing forces to the moral and spiritual enhancement of the race.

None of us believe that in order to run a business, you have to leave your humanity at home.

Our core values and business ethics will always be paramount in all that we do, and we are always looking to do the right thing and settle claims fairly and accurately.

I am not a politician. I'm an American businessman and entrepreneur that have built two businesses, and I try to play it straight with people.

Profit has to be a means to other ends rather than an end in itself.

...it's always been difficult for us to lead an examined life as a corporation. I've always felt like a company has the responsibility to not wait for the government to tell it what to do, or to wait for the consumer to tell it what to do, but as soon as it finds out it's doing something wrong, stop doing it.

Companies that model best practices, that model the most upstanding principles, end up as the most profitable. It's not a trade of profits versus principles.

Companies and leaders are role models - not just with the business community - but in the broader world.

If you can maintain that integrity in whatever you do, you can't go wrong. That's what I tell my kids, anyway.

Every young man would do well to remember that all successful business stands on the foundation of morality.