

Ask HN:  Artistic integrity desirable but entrepreneurship integrity is not? - amichail

Imagine a novelist who is considering several endings and takes a poll to see which one he/she should use to maximize sales.  Not acceptable?<p>But this is exactly the sort of thing that entrepreneurs are encouraged to do:  change the purpose of your startup if it means greater success.<p>So why is artistic integrity desirable but entrepreneurship integrity is not?
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pg
Novelists often do pander to audiences to increase sales. And plenty of
companies choose not to do things they think are morally dubious.

One difference between the two cases is that companies generally have
shareholders whose interest they're supposed to act in.

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paniq
The flaw in this line of thought lies in the assumption that profit is the
goal of both artist and entrepreneurial endeavours.

But works of art and products serve society best, when profit is seen as a
byproduct, sales as a means, and the goals are instead: raising the standards
of living, education, expansion of consciousness, you know: values.

Therefore, I would like to see the entrepreneur follow the example of the
artist instead of the other way around. We have too little of that.

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jlees
A novelist's already done this to name characters:

[http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/robinsloan/robin-
writes-...](http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/robinsloan/robin-writes-a-
book-and-you-get-a-copy/posts/1210)

