Recently, I came across the beautiful Starfish Story in a twenty-year old book by Susan Jeffers called Dare to Connect. I did some further research on the story. It seems that the story first appeared in a book of essays published in 1978 called “The Star Thrower” by Loren Eiseley.

Here is the story. “A little girl goes out after a storm to throw back some starfish that have become stranded on the beach. She is told by her mother that there are too many starfish for her to make any difference. She says, as she throws one back, “I made a difference to that one, didn’t I?”

Like many of you, I learned the business ropes in a corporation. I learned that the most important business concept is the bottom line of getting ahead at any cost. At the expense of people, quality, integrity, humanity, friendship, sustainability, etc. Who cares if we do bad things to people and the environment to get there? If we have the largest market share then we must be the best, right?. If we make 40 million dollars then we must be brighter and more important than the company that makes $1 million, right? (more…)