I received a copy of Ode magazine in the mail recently, a periodical that I had not subscribed to and had never heard of. My questions were quickly answered when I received a notice in the mail that Motto magazine, which I do subscribe to, is now defunct. Ode had picked up Motto’s subscribers. 

While I was new to Motto, I enjoyed the reporting that balanced the business world with social entrepreneurship.  Motto was started by two reporters from the Wall Street Journal. Ode seems to be decidedly in the social entrepreneur camp. In the masthead, they call themselves the magazine for Intelligent Optimists. So far, so good. And then I read the fine print:

"We are an independent international journal, without strings to the world of commerce and power……"

Let’s get real. If you take advertising, which this magazine does, you are tied to the world of commerce and power. (As if "commerce" is a dirty word.)

Nothing wrong with doing good in the world. Which the rest of their masthead goes on to describe in great detail. Doing good is good. And I’m a pragmatist. Money does make the world go round. Even social entrepreneurs need to keep the lights on.