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Hi, this is Tony McWilliams and I’m here with my daughter.
Hi, I’m Lindey Duckworth and I’m here with my dad.
Hi, dad.
Hello, Lindy.
So we have a lot of conversations around the dinner table, at family events, family gatherings, and dad, you’re always passionate about something. Is this true or is this true?
This is very true. And in our family, we have a very spirited family. So we talk about and debate a lot of things. But one of the things that keeps coming up a lot is this idea of social business. This is something that seems to be really cool that we’re talking about because we represent different generations.
Yes. We talk a lot about the heart of what the social business model is. Like what’s an example of business, social business?
The most popular is:
- Tom’s Shoes.
- Warby Parker eyeglasses.
Oh, yeah.
I did not know that. I didn’t know that was a, what is that, buy one, give one?
Exactly. Tom’s Shoes, you buy a pair of their shoes and they give a pair of shoes to usually children in need. Warby Parker eyeglasses, they do the same. You buy eyeglasses there.
I have Warby Parker eyeglasses. That’s the reason I have them is because I know that when I buy a pair there, they’re going to give a pair to somebody in need.
There’s also Bombas Socks.
I know nothing about Bomba Socks except that they do socks. They do a buy one, give one model.
Yeah, that’s so interesting.
Okay, do most people care or does our family just weirdly care about this kind of stuff? Like it seems to me that it’s important that, well, I don’t know. I feel like my generation and younger, we are caring more and more about where our dollar is going. If I’m using my dollar and I want it to buy something that I really, I need for my family and knowing that I’m putting my dollar into something that someone else is going to match and actually bring value to someone else’s life.
Right. That means a lot to me. Am I just speaking for myself or am I speaking for, I believe I’m speaking for a generation.
You probably are speaking for a generation, but I think you’re speaking for people who care and that transcends all generations.
That being the case and you think about the modern concept of social business and I say modern, the idea has been around a long time that you can connect to a service or product in such a way that the people who produce that or manufacture it also have a social outreach mission about them.
Yeah. That takes their socks, their eyeglasses or their shoes and not just provide something in the market that people pay money for, but then they also use the profits at some degree to give the same to somebody who really needs them even worse than you.
Yeah. I think our faith has to do a lot with it. Even if someone didn’t have this radar or this measure of there are certain things that people of faith do, but even someone who let’s say is a really good person, a good heart wants to do good in the world. I feel like they would be on board, like they would be on the same page with this.
Yes. I think from us being believers and walking with this faith, we believe one of the scriptures.
Yeah. Pure religion before God and the Father is to visit orphans and widows in their trouble and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.
Okay, there you go.
Yeah, that’s James chapter one. We’ve kind of looked at the word religion in a negative connotation because it does have some negative connotation, but there is a true religion. There is a holy religion. There is a religion with integrity that does indeed reach beyond themselves, that takes on a sense of mission. And whether that’s widows and orphans or other needs, and there’s other needs even beyond that. Those are just the obvious. But there is a reach, a desire to reach, a mission, a sense of mission that says, hey, I want to go do something with my life. And social business is one of the ways to get that done.