The Way People Usually Talk About Profit

Usually, when people talk about profit, they do so within a technical framework. The technical definition of profit was created by business to identify what remains after costs are deducted from revenues (sales).
Essentially, this definition defines profit as a residual that can be positive, or negative. When the residual is positive we identify it as a profit. When the residual is negative, we identify it as a loss.
The technical definition of profit is totally impersonal. Revenues enter the profit equation as a positive number, but they tell us nothing about the energy, the effort, the discipline, and the commitment of the people who produce these revenues for their companies. Costs enter the profit equation as a negative number, and they also tell us nothing about the human creativity, the personal skills, the attention to detail, and the quality of labor of the people who generate these expenses.
If we really want to capture the essence of profit, then we must move beyond any technical definition. We have to discuss profit in terms of human behavior, because the making of profit is a human endeavor.