Founder’s Perspective
I made banks richer. I promoted credit cards — a tool some people used wisely and others did not. I helped save small businesses from bankruptcy. I helped labourers receive their wages safely, reliably and quickly.
That was my work. I did it seriously, and I did it well.
As Edwin Markham wrote: “When you are the anvil, bear — when you are the hammer, strike.” I have been both.
That work allowed me to build a good life for myself. I make no attempt to rewrite it, or to pretend I always understood everything I understand today. But after more than forty years in business, I have never felt as fundamentally useful as I do now.
Today, the questions are different. Can a farmer receive a fairer share of the value he creates? Can knowledge held quietly in a village survive another generation? Can an extraordinary tree, product or landscape create opportunity for the people who have preserved it — without first being taken away from them?
Those are the questions behind guercif.com.
Perhaps I was sharper then. Faster. Better dressed. Certainly better supported. But I have never felt better about the purpose of my work. I have made a good life for myself. I am not done yet.
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