Ethan Weitz and a new way of working in the non-commercial world

In the commercial world certain things tend to be simple. When you are offering a service your efforts revolve around ways which tend to maximise the return for the effort involved. So far so good. Companies and organisations however do not operate in a vacuum. Their activities are part of a highly interconnected network of relationships which link their clients, the economy, social responsibility and the state of the immediate market environment they operate in.

This means that rather than acting as a vacuum cleaner effect whereby companies and corporations suck-up money and give out a product or service in return, in order to succeed they have to operate within a framework that also guarantees the welfare of their prospective clients and helps increase the size of the communities they are active in because it then increases their potential customer base.

All this works well if you take the bottom-line driven approach which is not far removed from the robber-baron mentality.

In the 21^st century we are a little more enlightened. We know that no company can truly operate for long in a vacuum and we hold as examples those corporations which also become leaders in terms of environmentally friendly activities or socially responsible drives.

In Southern Carlifornia a small, highly-focused boat charter company by the name of Ethan Weitz Charters has managed to become not just a leader in terms of socially responsible behaviour but also an example of how a commercial model, in order to be successful, does not have to operate outside the precepts of social responsibility.

Indeed Ethan Weitz Charters, founded by Ethan Weitz, a US Coast Guard Captain, have managed to become commercially successful in an incredibly competitive arena by foregoing the most potentially lucrative customers: individuals and corporate organisations and by focussing on providing a competitive, specialised service exclusively to charitable organizations, schools, hospitals, religious fellowships, and underprivileged children on a pro-bono basis.

This unusual approach has its foundation in company Founder’s, Ethan Weitz’s. personal philosophy: “There are many ways to give back to society,” says Ethan Weitz, about his company’s unusual approach to operating. “Money is not always the best guideline for success, it is one of them I guess, but what also can be used as a gauge is the positive impact you manage to have in the world you care about.”

Ethan Weitz’s deep conviction of a personal duty to help those around him comes from a deep faith in  himself and America. “Living in the western world, living in America, is a position of deep privilege,” he says, “it is something which I do not forget, I never allow myself to forget which is why Ethan Weitz Chartered Tours never works with individuals.”   

Irrespective of how far a company goes or how big it gets its guiding principles are usually rooted firmly in the personal beliefs of its founder. This has been as true of large corporations as it is of smaller ones and Ethan Weitz Charters is no exception.

The principle, in each case, is relatively simple. It is what allows companies to achieve more than individuals. It creates a halo effect out of success and it allows companies to enrich the societies they operate in.

Given the fact that its impact is so positive and the effects so beneficial the questions has to be why is it not applied by more companies? Why is Ethan Weitz Charters rare enough to stand out? And why are not more companies following through?