The idol life: Their fame will outlive them, their money will probably outlast their fame, and what they've learned about running businesses will be passed from generation to generation—starting with you

Entrepreneur, Jan, 2002 by Aliza Pilar Sherman

BEN & JERRY

ENTREPRENEUR: How do you define "entrepreneur"?

BEN COHEN: [Someone who] has a tremendous amount of drive and is willing to sacrifice most anything to bring this business vision to fruition.

ENTREPRENEUR: Who is your idea of an entrepreneurial icon?

JERRY GREENFIELD: It's Ben. He's the one who keeps looking under rocks. He doesn't really need to look under rocks--he sees ideas on top of rocks.

BEN: Paul Newman. He knew what assets he had--his name, his face, his reputation. [And he created] a business to raise money for charities.

ENTREPRENEUR: How do you keep your entrepreneurial spirit alive?

JERRY: Getting the right people in the company is the most critical thing. If you don't have people who believe in [your] mission, you run into problems.

ENTREPRENEUR: What was your dream when you started out?

JERRY: Ice cream for the people. We realized early on that the only way to stay in business was if the community was supporting us.

ENTREPRENEUR: What's your legacy?

JERRY: I hope the message from the company was that you could have a business that was not in existence solely to make money; it had a purpose and mission that was larger than that. And that [entrepreneurs] who want to have businesses that address social needs can do that in a way that also makes money.

BEN: What he said. And on top of that, to have a role that is restorative, to help make things better, not just not do bad. On a very small scale, Ben & Jerry's demonstrated that.

ANITA RODDICK

ENTREPRENEUR: How do you define "entrepreneur"?

ANITA RODDICK: Entrepreneurs are obsessive visionaries, pathological optimists, passionate storytellers and outsiders by nature.

ENTREPRENEUR: Who is your idea of an entrepreneurial icon?

RODDICK: Ben and Jerry. They turned a $20 ice-cream-making course into a leading light of socially responsible business.

ENTREPRENEUR: How do you keep your entrepreneurial spirit alive?

RODDICK: [By being] experimental. Success is twin-edged: Managing success seems to kill the entrepreneurial spirit. So to maintain it, you must keep on experimenting.

ENTREPRENEUR: What was your dream when you started out?

RODDICK: My business was a response to the extravagance and waste of the cosmetics industry. I [felt] there were plenty of people like me hungry for an alternative.

ENTREPRENEUR: What's your legacy?

RODDICK: The future is being shaped by the forces of global business, so I would hope that I've helped change the vocabulary and practice of business, and contributed to the awareness that it can and must be a force for positive social change.