Ice Cream Social

Editor's note: This is an excerpt from Ben & Jerry's Double-Dip, the forthcoming book by Ben & Jerry's founders Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield.

Ben: When we go out and speak to business groups, people ask what we mean by "values-led business." Sometimes they ask if we're talking about hippie values, or what. We say, "It's more like biblical values."

Jerry: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. As you give, you receive. Or, to put it in a more "businesslike" way: one hand washes the other.

Ben: When you're values-led, you're trying to help the community. And when you're trying to help the community, people want to buy from you. They want to work for you. They want to be associated with you. They feel invested in your success.

Jerry: This isn't conventional business wisdom. It's Ben's business wisdom. But it works. That's one of the beautiful things about Ben. He questions everything, particularly conventional wisdom.

This article was originally published in the July 1997 print edition of Entrepreneur with the headline: Ice Cream Social.