• Bloomberg/Harvard Business, Tuesday, July 14, 2009 10:40 AM

Rosabeth Moss Kanter says that the death of Daniel Carasso, the former head and honorary chairman of Groupe Danone, last week offers an inspirational lesson: "If you create products that you believe in passionately as a force for good ... you, too, can live to 103 and build a global empire!"

Danone yogurt, which was founded by Carasso's father, Isaac, was first marketed as a health food and sold by prescription through pharmacies. Daniel, having studied business and bacteriology, established the Danone brand in France in 1929 and guided it through depression, war and displacement with "the healthiest ingredients in business: innovation, collaboration, and long-term commitment," Moss Kanter writes.

She asks us to contrast Carasso's dedication to his healthy product with "the way many businesses have been conceived in recent years -- as empty vessels for making money rather than enduring contributions to well-being." But perhaps it wasn't the yogurt itself that gave Daniels such a long life, she feels. Instead, maybe it was his enduring confidence and belief in the product.

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