Newman Inspired a Generation of Entrepreneurs

I think most of the country knows him as Fast Eddie Felson or Cool Hand Luke. My kids think of him as an aging Hudson Hornet, pining away his days in the mythical Radiator Springs. But in my mind, I regard Paul Newman as perhaps the most successful social entrepreneur of our time and a role model who seeded a revolution.

Newman styled himself as an accidental entrepreneur, someone who fell into his work by chance. In this regard, he exemplified the old guard of socially responsible business, the individuals who stumbled into their companies despite their lack of formal training. That might have been the secret to their success: unlike the Harvard MBA set, they had no idea that they were trying to defy the laws of gravity as laid out by the likes of Freidman or Smith.

These were pioneers like Anita Roddick, Paul Hawken, Ben Cohen, and Gary Hirshberg. They always were the darlings of the conference circuit, sharing their stories and creating veritable folklore about building conscious companies. And, indeed, the world has benefited enormously from their creations -- including the Body Shop, Ben and Jerrys, Smith & Hawken, and Stonyfield Farms.

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Comments

[fuel4thefire]

09:38 PM on 10/06/2008

The passing of Paul Newman was in the strangest way, the highlight of my week last week -- that tells you how bad the state of the world is these days; Paul Newman always made me smile and feel good about being alive and engaged with life; and i was sympatico with his value of being a good person and doing good work; god bless that man and his family and Newman's Own to do more good work and have many more good years together;