Gmail

Google’s motto—“Don’t be evil”—is in part a branding ploy, but it’s also characteristic of a kind of business that’s successful enough to take ethics seriously without jeopardizing its own existence. In business, money is either an important thing or it is everything.

Here’s a great Google story I heard from Mark Hurst: It turns out that the folks at Google are obsessed with the email they get criticizing the service. They take it very seriously. One person writes in every once in a while, and he never signs his name. According to Marissa Meyer at Google, “Every time he writes, the e-mail contains only a two-dig

At its IPO filing documents, it would describe its mission along these lines: “Unleash the world’s creative energy by designing a more enlightened way of working.” It would describe itself as “a global collaboration platform.”

Starbucks’ “asks” stress neither convenience nor value pricing. They emphasize the cultivated, fair-trade, good taste of Starbucks’ customers.