A Kingdom-Influenced Business Model

When business is understood as stewardship--of people, resources, opportunities, and influence--it becomes the setting where success is no longer measured only by growth or scale, but by faithfulness, impact, and the flourishing of others;

Joseph J. Bucci ——Bio and Archives--April 25, 2026

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In his book Excellence Wins, Horst Schulze, the cofounder and former president of the RitzCarlton Hotel Company, summarizes his philosophy of business with a simple but captivating phrase: “We are ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen” (Schulze, 2019). For Schulze, this was not a branding slogan or customer service tactic, but a statement about human dignity, professionalism and motivation (Bardessono, 2015). Every employee, regardless of role, was to grasp that they themselves were worthy of respect, and every guest was to be treated just the same. Profit mattered, but it was not the reason the enterprise existed. Profit was the outcome of pursuing excellence in service (Schulze, 2019).

Schulze’s success in raising the self-esteem of his employees and in creating this culture of excellence for both employees and guests invites a deeper question--one that is often overlooked in our contemporary view of the business enterprise. We may think we know what a business is designed to do… But why does business exist in the first place?

Too often the answer to the question, “why business exists” has more to do with the purpose of a business, and not the motivation of business. A corporate-structured business has one purpose, and this is traditionally defined as, “to maximize shareholder wealth” (Wells, n.d.). One of the most frequently cited judicial affirmations of shareholder primacy emerged in the early twentieth century, when the Michigan Supreme Court stated in Dodge v. Ford Motor Co. (1919) that business corporations are organized primarily to generate profits for their stockholders. This decision has since come to occupy an outsized role in how corporate purpose is taught and understood.

But this understanding still focuses on the purpose for a business— not the motivation for why a business exists. To group a small corner grocery store in the same category as the corporate conglomerate supporting significant shareholder investment, and to define this business in the same way, is a disservice to the operators of the grocery store and it stereotypes their motivation.

A business enterprise cannot exist for its own sake. A business is designed and managed to satisfy the needs of individuals and communities, and to create social cohesion (Acton Institute, 2021). Not only does business........

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