I can point to two moments in college that put me on the path to where I am today as a socially responsible entrepreneur and business leader.

First, while in college, I started my first business printing T-shirts. I made a decent amount of money from this business and even used it to complete an internship requirement for my degree.

The second moment came during a trip to Tijuana, Mexico, where I traveled to help build homes. That feeling of doing something good for others made me, in turn, feel good.

That’s when I had an epiphany: how could I feel this good about doing something for others in my daily life and make a living at it, too?

What if I used the profits from my T-shirt business to help build more homes? Would that be possible?

I took the question to one of my business professors.

His immediate answer?

No.

“You need to preserve your profits for your shareholders,” he explained.

But I own the company, I thought to myself. Can’t I choose what I want to do with my profits?

His answer was still no. “Profits matter most,” was his message.

That just didn’t sit right with me. And it put me on the path to one of my defining philosophies as a CEO: in business, you can do well and do good at the same time. And it may just make your business even more successful.

Scarcity vs. Abundance Mindset

I’ve come to see that most CEOs lead their business with what is known as a scarcity mindset. They want to use the least amount of resources possible – whether that’s people, time, space or money – to make the most amount of profit. Learn margins = maximum profit = happy shareholders. That’s what is taught in most business schools.

When you introduce mission into the equation, that’s where things go negative for most business leaders. They believe having a strong mission can take away from strong margins. For most, purpose and passion don’t go hand in hand with profits.

But I don’t agree with that mindset. In fact, my business mindset is focused on a state of abundance. And I firmly believe having a strong mission can multiply your success on many levels. That’s where the magic happens.

To be clear, abundance doesn’t mean unlimited resources. At Sunrise Banks, for example, we focus on our capabilities and how we differentiate ourselves from other financial institutions.

That approach – the who, what, when, where and why – is going to be core to developing your mission.

When we focus on mission, we ask ourselves, “Why should people do business with us?” We want people to choose us as their bank because we offer options that others don’t. We offer opportunities for our customers to do good in their communities with their money. And we invite them to join us because our values align with theirs.

Using that abundance mindset to build our mission has led to more customers, more employees, growing profitability and bigger opportunities to put those profits back into our communities.

Partnerships and Collaborations

We also focus on partnering with other businesses and organizations to get things done. No one can solve all the world’s problems – no matter how big or small they are – by themselves.

I like to use a story about starfish to help illustrate this point.

Let’s say you’re walking along the beach, and you see a starfish in the sand. You stop, pick it up and throw it back into the ocean so it doesn’t die. Then you see another starfish a few feet away. You do the same. You see more starfish and do the same. I stop you and say, “Hey, what are you doing?” You respond, “I’m trying to save all the starfish from dying.” In this example, you’re the only one who is stepping up to help save the starfish.

Now imagine this same scenario, but instead of being the only one saving the starfish, you respond, “I know I can’t save all of them, but I have friends who will come and help me. And then those friends can reach out to others to help, as well. As a result, all of us will benefit from working together and we’ll save so many more starfish.”

In this example, working together shows how we can align our values to solve problems and do things at scale.

For some business leaders, the idea of partnering with similar companies can be scary. They fear others will steal their ideas or take credit for their work. They become vulnerable in a world where strength is more valuable.

To me, that’s a very old school idea.

I believe partnerships have the potential to strengthen a company’s mission and impact. You have the potential to multiply both your mission and your margins.

At Sunrise Banks, we work with many partners across multiple sectors to make an impact on our communities. We do about 60% of our lending in low-to-moderate income neighborhoods. Just about every U.S. city has one or more of these areas – areas that may look a little rundown now but are on the verge of a renaissance.

In the Twin Cities, I look at University Avenue in St. Paul, Lake Street in south Minneapolis or West Broadway in north Minneapolis. These are corridors where we have many customers and partners. They have built new buildings, established new businesses, created new jobs and brought new life to their communities.

Here, our mission and impact bring hope at a time where hope can sometimes feel out of reach.

My Challenge to You

So, as we look to the future, I want to challenge you to think beyond making profits. Can you and your business be part of something bigger?

To get there, you need to develop a deep, authentic belief in your mission. From there, bring others on board, align together, and watch that impact multiply.

David Reiling is the President/CEO of Sunrise Banks in St. Paul Minnesota. He is a Real Leaders Top Impact CEO.

This article originally appeared in Real Leaders Off Site Link.

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