I have had direct experience with hundreds of large companies in my career as an executive, academic and journalist. Quite a few have toxic work environments and I have thought deeply about how we can change this so that persons get up on Monday morning energized rather than dreading the week to come.
John Mackey and Raj Sisodia have also thought deeply about this and have articulated a coherent philosophy of what the problems are with the current structure of business, how to go about transforming it and giving lots of examples of companies. A caveat: not all companies are good at all parts of what they advocate. So when they cite an example, evaluate that company only on the characteristic they are discussing.
I found myself nodding in agreement many times as I read the book because it articulated what I deeply believe. First, business is a noble enterprise, even a heroic one. It makes life easier for every one because of new products and services offered. It lifts entire populations out of grinding poverty and channels human creativity and energy into productive avenues. True, there are downsides as many thoughtful critics of global capitalism have pointed out, such as rampant inequality, environmental degradation and fostering of excessive materialism to name a few. But these are not inherent flaws of business. They are the unfortunate by-products of the way business is currently structured and the "goals" of most businesspersons at present.
At the core of the book is the notion that a business stands for much, much more than "maximizing" value for shareholders or meeting high revenue or earnings targets. This is exemplified by a quote from Mackey in the Foreword pertaining to his famous debate with Milton Friedman, "While Friedman believes that taking care of customers, employees, and business philanthropy are means to the end of increasing investor profits, I take the exact opposite view: Making high profits is the means to the fulfilling Whole Foods' core business mission. We want to improve the health and well-being of everyone on the planet through higher quality foods and better nutrition, and we cannot fulfill this mission unless we are highly profitable. Just as people cannot live without eating, so a business cannot live without profits. But most persons don't live to eat, neither must businesses live to make profits." BTW this debate is both instructive and entertaining. You can find it on Mackey's blog or by Googling it.
There are five parts to the book. The first talks about capitalism, how it evolved and how a different form that Mackey and Sisodia call "Conscious Capitalism" is coming into being. I am not quite convinced that it is coming into being but I certainly wish it were so. Conscious Capitalism recognizes that business is a subset of society and society is a subset of the planet and requires conscious leadership at all levels to function as described.
The second part of the book talks about the higher purpose of business and why it should be consciously articulated. Whole Foods own mission comes through in Mackey's quote above. When a company is clear about its purpose and the senior executives walk the talk, tremendous creative energy is unleashed.
The next part of the book mentions the different stakeholders - such as employees, customers, shareholders, etc - and how the interests of each must be met in a balanced way. They give the example of medical students dissecting a cadaver and studying the heart. liver, brain etc as separate entities. True, these are separate but a live human being needs all of these and they have to work harmoniously. You cannot have the liver demand all the blood and leave none for the brain. In exactly the same way the elements of business - the stakeholders - all have to benefit and prosper. I entirely agree with this and the authors make an excellent case for it and give examples but it is more art than science. This is perhaps the weakest part of the book because it is so hard to manage these conflicts. In part, these are conflicts because they have been defined as conflicts in our business school education and future managers are encouraged to pick a side rather than think in terms of a "win-win" solution. Thus, in many ways, our business schools today are part of the problem.
The fourth part of the book talks about what conscious leadership is and how to cultivate it. I think this is the best part of the book and explicitly incorporates the leaders own growth on many dimensions, including spiritual, as the vehicle for an organization's growth. This is easier when you have a charismatic founder/CEO like Mackey at the helm. It is less clear when you have an amorphous group of "top mangers" at the helm each of whom is jockeying for power. And you still have the $64,000 question of what can be done when these "top mangers" have no clue about what is meant by Conscious Capitalism and have no desire to change.
The last part of the book talks about the elements of Conscious Capitalism in a company's culture and explicitly mentions concepts like love and care that are rarely discussed in a business context.
This is a book about what business can be like and should be like. The authors feel that we are in the midst of a deep transformation that will bring this about. I would love to see this happen but am somewhat less sanguine.
"Firms of Endearment" is an earlier book that Sisodia co-authored and also covers many of the same concepts though not in quite as developed form. It is also an excellent read and well worth your time.
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Reviews with images
Great book but printed version has errors in order of pages
The book seems wonderful, but as some pages are not in the correct order, it turns difficult to read. I don't live in the US so my alternative is to get a new copy via Kindle. Will see how Amazon resolves.
Top reviews from other countries
Spekegirl
Not yet finished the book but have been impressed with ...
Reviewed in Canada on October 3, 2017
Carlos Eduardo Monteiro Rodrigues
Enriquecedor....acredito ser uma excelente oportunidade de crescimento
Reviewed in Brazil on December 23, 2015