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Anita Roddick died last month. Both an activist and entrepreneur, Ms. Roddick created a company, the Body Shop, that seemed a model of social responsibility. She used the platform of a successful business enterprise to raise awareness for issues like violence against women and fair trade. Profiles written before and after her death cast a dark shadow on her motives by pointing out her missteps along the way to building a global enterprise from a base of 15 hair products and body creams. Scott Simon at NPR did a posthumous piece entitled, Roddick's Body Shop: An Empire Built on a Ruse? that took exception to Roddick's reputation as a business "Mother Teresa" and suggested that her business ethics were tenuous at best. For example, apparently she modeled her business on an existing one in California, even going so far as to use the name and then suggest later that she had dreamt it up on her own. As well, although she claimed that her products were not tested on animals, it turned out the ingredients she originally used to formulate the products were. So she changed her claims to "Against Animal Testing."

I'd like to suggest that Roddick, like any entrepreneur, oftentimes blindly felt her way through the maze of business decisions that spur growth. A need to put food on the table for herself, her family, and as her business grew, on the tables of her employees, vendors, suppliers and stakeholders may have led her to make some bad even ethically compromised choices. And yet she also made smart, ethically sound choices. As Ms. Roddick matured personally and professionally so did the objectives and business practices of her company. She demonstrated to the business community that doing good or taking a stand on the side of good could also be profitable. She used her voice and growing clout to publicize a myriad of causes that had once been considered taboo or best left to the largesse of philanthropists or government programs.

We don't always do the right thing in every circumstance. We make mistakes and hopefully, when we realize we've made them or when we see another way of doing things, we forgive ourselves, move on or do our best to rectify the situation. Unfortunately for Ms. Roddick her mistakes were writ large because of the enormous business success that she achieved. They are a matter of public record and will forever be trotted out for as long as her story remains topical or illustrative. This is as it should be since it shows her humanity. The cynics will always point a finger and shout "hypocrite." Others will look at the totality of her life and achievements to see flaws and contradictions but also great courage. Yes, she created an enterprise that she sold for $130 million dollars in 2006. More importanly, she inspired a whole generation to speak out, take action, and understand that no matter their beginnings, no matter what mistakes they make along the way, it will always be possible to effect positive change for themselves, their community and the world at large.