Success Quote by Jerry Greenfield

“Business can be a source of progressive change” is a deliberately modest sentence that tries to rescue commerce from its default reputation as the villain in every feel-good story. Jerry Greenfield, the Ben of Ben & Jerry’s, isn’t making a radical claim that markets automatically improve the world; he’s making a case for permission. The word “can” is the hinge: it acknowledges capitalism’s track record without surrendering to it, leaving room for agency, design, and choice.

The subtext is brand theology, but not the empty kind. Greenfield comes out of a very specific American moment: the rise of “social enterprise” and values-led consumer culture, where a pint of ice cream could double as a ballot. Ben & Jerry’s built an identity on fair trade sourcing, public stances on racial justice and climate, and a corporate structure meant to protect mission alongside profit. So the line functions as both aspiration and defense: don’t treat business as inherently extractive; treat it as a tool that reflects who’s holding it.

It also quietly shifts responsibility onto the people inside companies, not just regulators or activists outside them. That’s why it works rhetorically: it invites listeners to imagine progress not as a sacrifice businesses begrudgingly make, but as a competitive advantage, a culture, a supply chain, a governance choice. Of course, “progressive change” is vague enough to be co-opted, which is the risk baked into the pitch. Greenfield’s intent is to keep the promise tethered to practice: if business can, then business must prove it.