5 comments about Firms of Endearment: How World-Class Companies Profit from Passion and Purpose.

1. This book identifies a batch of companies that have oriented their business model to providing a superior feeling in the minds of their customers. In many cases I absolutely agree with them.
   
   Wegman's supermarkets for instance presents an excellent shopping experience. I particularly love their cheese department where knowledge people stand ready to discuss their magnificant array of choices and even to giving you samples to taste seemingly without end or sales pressure. In turn I buy far more cheeses than I would otherwise. We both win.
   
   But then they turn to Wal-Mart and repeat a litany of alleged problems with employees, suppliers, and communities. My own experience with Wal-Mart is limited to one store in the small town where I live. But my experience doesn't match the alleged problems. I go there, the people, from the greeter at the door to the most junor sales clerk are friendly and willing to walk halfway across the store to help me find something. I talk to people who work there (away from the store) and they universally say that it is the best job they've ever had. Does the Wal-Mart experience depend on the store? Are the alledged problems just that, allegations? And for that matter, does every Wegman's have such an excellent cheese department? And what about Microsoft? Everyone (nearly) uses their products and most people hate the company. What does this say about their future? I guess we'll just have to watch and see.
   
   This is a book that describes one way of doing business that has worked for a lot of companies. It provides a good insight into what these companies do.



2. 
   In the Prologue, when discussing The Age of Transcendence through which the contemporary business world is now proceeding, the co-authors (Rajendra S. Sisodia, David B. Wolfe, and Jagdish N. Sheth) suggest that it is "a cultural movement in which physical (materialistic) influences that dominated culture in the twentieth-century are ebbing while metaphysical (experiential) influences become stronger. This is helping to drive a shift in the foundations of culture from an objective base to a subjective base: People are increasingly relying on their own counsel to decide what the truth is...That shift acknowledges a long-suppressed idea in a world largely guided by Newtonian certainty that chemistry Nobel laureate Ilya Prigogine says is scattering to the winds: Ultimately, everything is personal."
   
   Thus do the authors establish a frame-of-reference for the thesis of their book: That each stakeholder in an organization tends to thrive best when all stakeholders thrive. That is, no stakeholder group is more important than any other. "It is disciplined dedication to the well-being of all stakeholders that separates firms of endearment from their competition." Stakeholder relationship management (SRM), the authors suggest, can achieve and then sustain superior business performance that, in turn, will create n a decisive competitive advantage. They are convinced that SRM business models will increasingly be seen "as the most efficacious way to achieve sustained superior business performance in years to come" but only if (huge "if") the interests of all stakeholder groups are brought into strategic alignment.
   
   Two Questions: Are all stakeholder groups of equal importance and do they have the same interests? Also, are all members of a stakeholder group (e.g. shareholders) of equal importance and do they have the same interests? These questions occurred to me as I read the first chapter, especially the brief discussion of the "distinctive" core values, policies, and attributes that firms of endearment (FoEs) share in common. Eventually, Sisodia, Wolfe, and Sheth provide answers to these questions, answers best revealed within the narrative.
   
   If indeed "endearing companies tend to be enduring companies," how do the 28 FoEs that "made the final cut" for this book compare with the 11 companies praised by Jim Collins in Good to Great? "Over a 10-year horizon, FoEs outperformed the Good to Great companies by 1,026 percent to 331 percent (a 3.1-to-1 ratio). Over five years, FoEs outperformed the Good to Great companies by 128 percent to 77 percent (a 1.7-to-1 ratio). Over three years, FoEs performed on par the Good to Great companies: 73 percent to 75 percent." (FYI, there are no duplicates on the two lists.) As with the exemplary companies discussed by Thomas J. Peters in Robert H. Waterman, Jr. in In Search of Excellence, not all companies on any such list continue to meet the criteria that were the basis of their initial selection.
   
   For me, some of the most interesting material is presented in Chapter 11, "Crossing Over to the Other Side." At one point, the authors cite Oliver Wendell Holmes's observation "I would not give a fig for the simplicity this side of complexity but I would give my life for the simplicity on the other side of complexity." They then quote one of my favorite passages in James O'Toole's The Executive's Compass:
   
   "To move beyond the confusion of complexity, executives must abandon their constant search for the immediately practice and, paradoxically, seek to understand the underlying ideas and values that have shaped the world they work in. Managers who clamor for how-to instruction are, by definition, stuck on the near side of complexity."
   
   According to Sisodia, Wolfe, and Sheth, the big challenge of the times is to transcend the zero-sum mindset because, given the profusion of new opportunities, absolutes (by nature limiting) are found everywhere on the near side of complexity. "They emerge from people's perennial quest for pat solutions, or `silver bullets,' as they are sometimes described. This is a key point because, as Sisodia, Wolfe, and Sheth explain, a zero sum mindset leads to the conclusion that one stakeholder group can only benefit at the expense of the other stakeholder groups...However, opportunities increase by an order of magnitude when the mind breaks free of zero-sum thinking."
   
   There are specific reasons why endearing companies tend to be enduring companies and one of the most important is their having "the ability to transcend ruthless competition and embrace the fruits of cooperation [which is] the essence of evolved humanness."
   
   Those who share my high regard for this book are urged to check out Bill George's Authentic Leadership: Rediscovering the Secrets to Creating Lasting Value and his later book, True North: Discover Your Authentic Leadership, co-authored with Peter Sims. Also Michael Ray's The Highest Goal, Adrian J. Slywotzky's The Upside: The 7 Strategies for Turning Big Threats into Growth Breakthroughs, Enterprise Architecture As Strategy: Creating a Foundation for Business Execution by Jeanne W. Ross, Peter Weill, and David Robertson as well as Ram Charan's Know-How: The 8 Skills That Separate People Who Perform from Those Who Don't, Lynda Gratton's Hot Spots: Why Some Teams, Workplaces, and Organizations Buzz with Energy - And Others Don't, Robert J. Herbold's Seduced by Success: How the Best Companies Survive the 9 Traps of Winning, Jack Alexander's Performance Dashboards and Analysis for Value Creation, and Michael Useem's The Go Point: When It's Time to Decide--Knowing What to Do and When to Do It.



3. There's a difference when you fly Southwest vs. United. You feel different shopping at Costco than you feel shopping at Wal-mart. Why? That question is explored and answered in the book Firms of Endearment: How World-Class Companies Profit from Passion and Purpose by Raj Sisodia, Jag Sheth, and David B. Wolfe. This is one of those books that will cause you to think about why you feel as you do towards certain companies, and how those feelings translate into real profits.
   
   
   
   Contents: A Whole New World; It's Not Share of Wallet Anymore - It's Share of Heart; New Age, New Rules, New Capitalism; The Chaotic Interregnum; Employees - The Decline and Fall of Human Resources; Customers - The Power of Love; Investors - Reaping What FoEs Sow; Partners - Elegant Harmonies; Society - The Ultimate Stakeholder; Culture - The Secret Ingredient; Lessons Learned; Crossing Over to the Other Side; Acknowledgements
   
   
   
   On Wall Street, companies are usually judged on their profit. Squeeze as much out of your business as you can, cut costs wherever possible, and make sure you meet your numbers. To be sure, plenty of companies are successful under those rules (such as Wal-mart). But when you look at their performance over the last few years on the stock market, returns have been stagnant or have trailed the field. The alternative way to run a business is as a "firm of endearment" (FoE). These companies have a passion for what they do/sell, they have a strongly defined purpose for what they want to accomplish, and they look to contribute to society in more ways than just the quarterly dividend to shareholders. These FoEs, like Costco, Whole Foods, Harley-Davidson, and others, include stakeholders to mean all parts of society that they touch... shareholders, employees, the community, etc. The focus isn't on pure profit, but instead on contributing to the well-being of all the stakeholders. That's why a company like Costco can afford to pay their employees a living wage, have low turnover, and *still* turn a substantial profit. They have captured the hearts of their customer base, and that base will go out of their way to shop at Costco whenever possible. That's also why a company like Ikea can propose a new location and have nearly universal acceptance in the community, while a new Wal-mart location brings out protesters in force. There's obviously a lot more that differentiates FoEs from their counterparts in the marketplace, but once you recognize an FoE, you'll understand why they are successful by *not* following the same formula as everyone else.
   
   
   
   It's tempting to think that all the FoEs covered in this book can do no wrong. That's not the case. JetBlue was/is an FoE that badly damaged their reputation during the winter when storms caused massive cancellations. It even led to the resignation of the CEO. Like other business books of this genre (In Search Of Excellence, From Good To Great), only time will tell how these companies will fare over the long term. It may well be that a decade from now, the stars of this book will have all fallen to the wayside. But I would venture to guess that the companies covered here will have a much larger margin of forgiveness than would other companies that are just focused on the next quarter...
   
   
   
   This is a book that is highly recommended for anyone running a business. It should cause you to rethink the factors of success for your company, as well as point you in directions that could lead you to become an FoE in your niche.



4. Much like Gary Hamel's book The Future of Management, one needs to read this book with an open mind. It is an exceptional book and one that I am giving away to my clients this coming Holiday. It is thought provoking and enlightening. Above all it stresses that companies have a need above profit. That profit is the score, not the game itself. Perhaps had the management of Enron and others of that ilk truly believed in a purpose beyond profit, corporate America would not being wearing SOX today.



5. In these trying and chaotic times, Firms of Enderament offers a refreshing new look at capitalism and what it really takes for a business to be successful in today's complex and ever shifting markets.
   The authors start by identifying and studying the practices of comanies that honor and serve their customers, employees, suppliers,partners, investors and even the commuities in which they operate. After identifying 28 companys which score high marks in these areas, then and only then do the authors take a peek at the bottom line performance of this group. They then compare these bottom line results with their counterparts which are driven by the traditional and singular focus of shareholder wealth.
   The results are eye opening as the FoE's profit performance is 8 times that of those companies which compulsively and almost exclusively pursue the bottom line in the interest of shareholder return. The book makes a compelling arguement that nice guys (business people) can finish first and that by paying attention to its stakeholders rather than just its shareholders a company can excel even beyond the paragons described in the works of Jim Collins.
   Firms of Endearment is an excellent work and should be included in the curricula of business schools around the world.

5 comments about Making Sustainability Work: Best Practices in Managing and Measuring Corporate Social, Environmental and Economic Impacts (Business).

1. Making Sustainability work does a significant contribution for practitioners on how to put sustainability principles and ideas into practice. We have seen in the past other important contributions about sustainability. The difference regarding this new book is in putting these ideas in a very explicit way; emphasizing on the challenges of integrating sustainability into the business strategy and in the decision-making that encompasses the implementation of successful strategies at the firm level.
   
   The book goes further giving valuable guidelines in practical methodologies on how to measure social and environmental risks and impacts and in the implementation of systems inside the firms for permanently monitoring such impacts. This has been a weakness in some of the literature we have seen in the past. Making Sustainability Work addresses the necessary evaluation of the impacts of sustainability initiatives on the financial performance to correctly assess the convenience of implementing them in terms of the benefits to both, the firm and the stakeholders. Finally, we have in a very amenable reading style, an important guide for practitioners on how to put sustainability principles into practice.



2. This book provides a detailed model that provides guidance on how managers can implement sustainability at their companies. However, it is excellent not only for managers, but also for consumers who want to know what companies are doing or what they should be doing to improve their social and environmental responsibility. It is easy to read and contains many detailed real world examples to help readers understand what corporate sustainability is and how it should work at global companies.



3. If you want a single book on how to make your company sustainable, this is the book for you. Epstein distills the latest and greatest thinking into a sensible and comprehensive program for delivering environmental, social, and financial excellence. You don't need to look further for a guide to retool the machinery of your organization to create value for all stakeholders. Epstein is a renowned expert in the field of managing for sustainable performance. It's amazing how many insights and examples he fits into this easy-to-ready book. A great contribution to the field.



4. Whereas others have argued for why corporations must attend to social issues, Epstein helps us understand how. Epstein provides in-depth, thoughtful analysis that integrates the relevant research in the field about how to more effectively manage corporate social responsibility. He grounds this analysis in extensive examples of companies actively grappling with these issues. In doing so, he provides a manual for both academics and practitioners to understand what we know today about how to manage corporate social responsibility , and provides a set of questions for the issues that we must grapple with tomorrow. This book is a must read for anyone who cares about the success of companies and who cares about the future of our communities and our planet.



5. The challenges and opportunities facing companies today in the area of sustainability are more complex and have greater potential impact than ever before. Making Sustainability Work fulfills an unmet need for senior executives, board members, and managers seeking better ways to manage these challenges and opportunities. In this book, Epstein provides direction and guidance to help corporate leaders integrate sustainability into their daily decisions and to better understand and manage corporate social responsibilities and corporate performance. Making Sustainability Work is an outstanding contribution to the field. This book will be an invaluable resource for senior executives, boards, and managers searching for the best ways to integrate sustainability into their decision making.
   --Mark L. Frigo, Ph.D., CMA, CPA, Director of the Center for Strategy, Execution, and Valuation, Kellstadt Grauate School of Business at DePaul University

5 comments about Green Chic: Saving the Earth in Style.

1. This is a cute book with a great message. While many "green" books give you long list of dos and don't (mostly don'ts!), Green Chic goes further. Author Christie Matheson goes into great detail as to the why that making environmentally friendly choices makes a difference. She is not at all about appearances, but is definitely all about the change of mindset and attitude.
   
   The best part of this book is that Matheson offers very doable tips to make small changes that almost anyone can handle that make a major impact in our world.
   Go Green!



2. This book does a terrific job listing simple, practical eco-friendly practices that any household can adopt. Highly recommend!



3. This book is a great source which highlights SMALL changes we ALL can make that have a significant IMPACT on our home, our planet! There is so much we can do that is so easy and only a slight alterations to our current lifestyle. GO GREEN!



4. I don't have an issue with "saving the earth in style," but I do take issue with Matheson's product recommendations. Some of the products she recommends as "greener" alternatives are not only pricey but have been found to be no better - sometimes even worse - for the environment (at least one "green" product she mentions has been deemed "not recommended" by the Environmental Working Group) than boring old store brands (eg, CVS Sunscreen with Zinc Oxide, SPF 45+ got the green light from EWG). The prose style is no help, either. If you like your eco advice served with wit and style, better check out [...] and their publications.



5. I first got this book at the library, I enjoyed it so much I decided to buy it. It's a very good reference book and one I'm sure I will refer back to again and again. I thought the writer was very clever and I love the concept.

5 comments about How The Rich Are Destroying the Earth (Foreword by Greg Palast).

1. Amazingly accurate assessment of an old subject brought back to the forefront by this author. We don't have to search far and long to see that the examples of the ongoing environmental catastrophes given are happening now, right under our noses and presented in plain sight for all to see. It is similar to the industrial revolution after the civil war, then on to the overgrowth and wealth accumulation at the beginning of the 20th century. There is a problem...the planet was at least able to weather the ecological devestations somewhat...now at the current rate the earth along with its people can't keep up nor can it clean itself sufficiently to contain the onslaught.
   
   Old problems coming back to haunt activists on the sidelines are....the greedy gluttons known as the hyper rich reaping billions off the earths pillage, followed by the second tier rich wannabees .... increased poverty and inequality in the first, second, third and fourth world countries....possible shakeups of the global economic system...
   
   In an effort to protect itself , the hyper rich have instituted such safeguards as, blocking journalistic reporting of a perfected nuclear bomb, the B61-11, criminalizing protests of the anti GMO reapers, development of RFID'S, increased usage of prison, and then CONTROL OF THE MEDIA,
   
   And this ones for all the Africans Americans who accuse unjustifiably those activist as being whiners.....There are, data bank catalogs of genetic signatures mainly of blacks, 11.9 % of prisoners of African descent 25-29 years are captured behind bars, state of the emergency testing programs such as those practiced during Katrina and the ghetto riots in France. And anyone at anytime can be on the payroll...(V. Jordan) and (A. Young).
   
   Great comeback, great update and hope that it spurs interests then global action...
   



2. I watch a lot of documentaries and read books on this same theme, so most of what he discusses I was already aware. I thoroughly enjoyed his writing style and appreciated the concise way he got his point across. I think this is the perfect book to give as gifts due to its content and size. It does not take a huge time commitment to read, but gives a wealth of points to consider. Another plus is it would not overwhelm someone you are trying to persuade to see the light of these issues, although some of his wording might insult staunch non-believers such as the Righteous Right. He covers the topics from loss of civil liberties, to the raping of mother earth, and keeping the common man down economically. I think citizens of most of the western countries are realizing the full mess we are in due to greed and careless wastefulness. None of us wants to become third world nations, but at least now we are beginning to understand their plight. Will there be another French Revolution....or perhaps an American one? Change is in the air. Please vote 11/04/08.



3. The entire book is excellent. He makes the point that biosphere limits makes the development of the current on-the-threshold areas impossible along 19th century European and American lines. The interweaving of Veblen's observations of later 19th century robber baron industrial society to today is very interesting. This engine for growth now must be substituted for an engine that decreases material consumption letting go a yearning for more and more.
   
   Following the logic of leadership of desire by the hyper rich on the global middle class the rich must scale back to allow the larger group with the actual planetary consumption gravitas to scale back and lower global material consumption. Kempf sees the world's elites looking to the opulent countries as their standard and as the richest of them all the United States stands brightly lit.
   
   Of course, the explosive fear I had about this book was that it would be awash or subtly hide simple envy. Often comments I hear from Europeans seem to have a lot of envy hiding somewhere in them. But that is not where this book is coming from. You need only to be patient and read the next few pages wherever you are in the text to see that. Excellent and short enough and clearly written enough that it is not a burden to read.
   
   His ideas of future political structures under the war on terror are also very interesting.



4. There are many, many things to be angry about right now with regards to the state of the world. One of the problems with the left in America is that we have a tendency to have our pet causes, and elevate them to the exclusion of all others, as thought what we believe to be important is better than anything else.
   
   Herve Kempf offers up a text that links the destruction of the environment with the extravagance of the wealthiest people in the world, complete with 400-foot-long yachts, private jets, and other exorbitant luxuries. By shattering our tunnel vision about social issues being independent of environmental issues, he shows us how efforts made for the sake of one can be helpful for dealing with the other--and then some.
   
   The biggest weakness of this book is that Kempf gives us a lot of evidence, and a lot of complaining--but not much in the way of actual solutions. The final chapter is a scant four pages, and barely makes a very few vague scratches on the surface of all the grand problems he explores. So while he proposes some valuable connections between causes, he leaves us rather hanging about what to do about it all.



5. Rick Wagoner, current CEO of General Motors, opined in the Wall Street Journal (November 11, 2008) that he didn't think he should be fired. GM stock is the lowest it has been since 1946. The company can't sell its ridiculous cars and trucks because nobody wants these vehicles because everyone on the planet can see that the handwriting is on the wall for these gross, pathetic tubs of personal transportation and the carbon-dioxide-spewing internal combustion engines that power them. Consequently, General Motors will go bankrupt if we, the taxpayers, don't give them billions and billions of dollars of our hard-earned money to bail it out from Mr. Wagoner's and the Board of Directors of GM's supremely destructive and stupid business decisions.
   
   Ten years ago, General Motors had the opportunity to be first in line with an electric car. If they had done so, they'd be sitting pretty. But they killed the car and its technology. Doesn't this seem positively unremittingly ill-advised to you in every way, from failing to be able to read the financial signs--for which business people are paid to do--to continuing to contribute to the degradation of the environment? If you were working for a company as a middle manager and you blew a major project that cost the company so much money that it was going to go bankrupt, wouldn't you be fired? When things are going well, it seems, the people at the top take the credit, but when events turn, everyone and everything else is responsible for that turn except themselves. Too bad we couldn't vote for the president of GM. Mr. Wagoner could then meet Mr. McCain's fate
   
   This may seem like an odd introduction to this excellent, informative, little book by Hervé Kempf, the environmentalist editor for Le Monde. Mr. Kempf never mentions Rick Wagoner, but he would know why the GM honcho gets two paragraphs as an intro here. As Mr. Kempf says without mincing words, the rich--like Mr. Wagoner--are responsible for the pickle in which our planet and its people now find themselves. A small number of human beings--billionaires in America, China , France, India, Canada, Germany, and Saudi Arabia--i.e., the super rich, own the connections and the power; their decisions have put us where we are. Who else is in charge? The poor in Mumbai? The peasants of China? Middle managers? Joe the Plumber?
   
   Make no mistake, this book is not an updated Communist Manifesto. Mr. Hervé goes after the left for its blinkered view as much as he does the right. The left simply cannot drop its old allegiances to strictly social change, thus arguing only for a bigger piece of the pie. The increasing size of pie is ending because the ideology of capitalism, with its linear notion of endless exploitation of our Earth, of greater and greater GNP, is done, finished, over, kaput. Growth is not possible any longer and--this is a key point for Mr. Hervé--it is no longer desirable because growth is destroying our planet. No planet. No us. Quick. You decide.
   
   We are all going to have to take a hit in every way in the coming decades, and for the duration. We must simplify. And whether they like it or not, that hit has to start at the top because the top is where the hit can matter most in terms of freeing resources for the rest of us. But us, too, the lower orders, we must change. No more aping our so-called "betters", no more buying Ford Expeditions so that we can ape the rich with their Hummers. In this regard: Ever heard of Thorstein Veblen? He was an economist who coined the term "conspicuous consumption". Mr. Hervé re-introduces us to him, and a valuable re-introduction it is.
   
   I could go on, but if you read Mr. Hervé, a very nice French intellectual by the way, you will be filled with hope and scared at once. We have maybe ten years to turn the ship around. Maybe eight years. If we don't, we are doomed. No. Seriously. Doomed. It's that clear. The melting of the Arctic is not a plot point in a Disney animation. This slim book helps us to see things as they are. So let us begin with a reading of How the Rich Are Destroying the Earth, and proceed to the firing of Mr. Wagoner, and the refusal to invest one blue cent in GM--unless we as the taxpayers buy it outright and the plant starts to turn out electric cars and makes us a tidy profit so our taxes can be lower. As we should have been doing for the last decade if anyone at the helm had had any foresight. Socialism? Making money is fine, friends, so long as the planet is protected, and we all share. Liberty! Ecology! Fraternity!

5 comments about The Myths of Innovation.

1. I really liked Art of Project Management so had high expectation for this book. It took me a while to get engaged into this one, and while there are lots of interesting tidbits, I really didn't find something that sticks to my ribs. Filling, but not satisfying.



2. I recommend Scott Berkun's book The Myths of Innovation to everyone willing to trade a couple hours of reading and thinking for a deeper understanding of what's holding you back in your creative endeavours, and some alternatives to help you get out of your rut.
   
   In Myths Scott lists 10 myths, one per chapter, which hamper people from innovating. His chapters begin by explaining some important things we've been lead to believe about inventing and innovation simply by living in our culture (U.S.A.). Those myths conspire to disempower people who do want to change things: a theme that repeats as Scott examines each myth in turn. After describing these implicit, limiting, and usually deeply ingrained memes Scott gives different perspectives for each myth including tales about popular people and inventions that may surprise you.
   
   At first glance the chapters seemed more management-centric than I'd expected. However unless you are inventing in isolation (which cannot happen: see Chapter 5) and never need interact with other people, each of Scott's insights could be important to you, too. After all innovation doesn't just mean coming up with a patentable object to sell: any change to how people work, play, or view the world can be innovative and have similar challenges.
   
   This was a great book for me since I've had hundreds of ideas of things to fix or create, but I hadn't realized how many damaging cultural myths about innovation I had accepted over the years. Even though Scott's writing and examples make the book easily readable and it is small enough to finish in a few hours, I took several breaks while devouring Myths and reread parts so I could absorb all the new information presented.
   
   The Myths of Innovationis a fairly short book, but with Scott's writing that means it is packed with interesting content and clearly explains both myths and truths about innovation. Scott's ideas and the book's layout, black-and-white photos and illustrations, and extras like a colophon, ranked bibliography, and a useful index mean it is easy to reference, inviting to reread, and a springboard to free your own innovation.
   
   Enjoy!



3. This book is not all that. Its just a bunch of meandering ramblings from a guy whose main qualification seems to be that he worked on Internet Explorer at Microsoft. It creates just as many rah rah myths as it challenges. It is poorly written, the author is wholly devoid of any gravitas, and thus does not offer many coherent or believable insights. I suppose the bibliography is useful, for finding a real book, which this one is not.



4. A very infomative and entertaining read. The book opens your eyes to a lot of things you usually take foregranted.



5. At this point I can't say much that the other reviewers haven't already. Berkun makes a case study out of innovators and their innovations, exposing the real history behind the developments. There is no such thing as "Eureka!"...breakthroughs occur only after many long hours of development have been racked up (even in such "accidental" discoveries like the microwave oven), from you and all of your predecessors, all the way back to when we first crawled out of the ocean.
   
   So much surrounding innovation is beyond the control of the innovator. Berkun takes 10 myths and picks them apart, piece by piece....this is an absolute must read for people in technical fields as well as basement inventors. It should set you straight before you go off and (foolishly) try to change the world with a (insert fancy new widget here). I found the book to be humorous and refreshing. I wish I would have come across this book before I started my graduate education, it would have changed my temperament to be more realistic when it comes to cutting-edge research at an earlier time (I got there anyway, but now I am old and cynical).
   
   And for the record, this is not a cookbook for innovation. There is no such thing...and reading this book should explain to you why. Also, I second the comment about the colophon being worth the price of the book.

5 comments about World on Fire: How Exporting Free Market Democracy Breeds Ethnic Hatred and Global Instability.

1. In "World on Fire" Amy Chua does something remarkable - she looks at isolated facts - some well known, some less so - and shows us a pattern. She offers an interesting a compelling theory that may be able to explain quite a lot about the world - although not as much as Chua thinks it can.
   
   Before reading Chua, I knew of course that democracy sometimes led to extremist, racist parties taking over (see Zakaria's The Future of Freedom: Illiberal Democracy at Home and Abroad). Every economist knows that free trade has redistributive implications, and there has even been literature about the unequal spread of wealth between various ethnic groups (Easterly's The Elusive Quest for Growth: Economists' Adventures and Misadventures in the Tropics). But are these facts related?
   
   Chua argues that they are. From Africa to Asia, Bolivia to Burma, Kenya to the Philippines - small ethnic minorities have highly disproportionate amount of wealth - indeed, they often literally dominate the economy, with tiny minorities sometimes owning more than the majorities entirely. With Globalization - free trade en mass - the inequalities have, if anything, grown worse. Whatever the benefits to the majority in these countries (and I think Chua is overly pessimistic about these benefits) , they are greater for the rich.
   
   The existence of these "Market Dominating Minorities", in Chua's terminology, is the cause of three types of backlash. First, the majorities, feeling that markets help the minorities and not themselves, strike against markets - nationalizations, trade barriers and economic discrimination against the minorities are widespread. Majorities elect and support demagogues, who incite hatred against the minorities in order to win popularity and votes. Second, the Market Dominating Minorities strike back - against democracy, either via direct rule or by sponsoring a dictator from the majority group. Finally, in rare cases, the unrest between majority and minority deteriorates into ethnic cleansing and genocide - think about Ruanda, Zimbabwe, and perhaps 1960s era Algiers.
   
   I genuinely think that Chua's argument is original and penetrating. But neither the idea nor the book is flawless.
   
   Chua lacks a theory about why minorities dominate markets; At times, it seems that they do it by brute force, or as a legacy from the colonialist era (especially in Latin America). At other times, the minorities seem considerably more entrepreneurial than the majority - even prospering in the face of government discrimination (Malaysia's Chinese and Russia's Jews). Often it's a combination of entrepreneurship and power. The absence of a theory regarding the rise of the phenomena makes it difficult to know how to deal with it.
   
   A weakness of the book is that beyond this single, powerful insight, it has very few other ideas. Most of the book consists of stories of Market Dominating Minorities in various countries, and of anecdotes regarding Chua's adventures and misadventures in the tropics.
   
   Third, Chua over-extends her concept of "Market Dominating Minority" to the US as the world's Market Dominating Minority. The characterization misfire - Chua offers no evidence that the psychological, social, or political forces that shape the hatred of an indigenous majority to a small minority owning what it perceives its own economic and political assets are the same as the hatred, envy and resentment people around the world feel towards the United States. One obvious difference is that the US does not own most of the world's assets, and that its share of world production is decreasing with the meteoric rise of India and China. The US's economic preeminence is declining - and yet anti-American feelings seem to be on the rise.
   
   Even within countries, Chua's theory encounters some objections. If Market Dominating Minorities are such a conspicuous feature of most of the world's countries, why are they almost absent in Western history? The best candidate for such a minority in the West were Whites in the Jim Crow American South, and even that is an imperfect specimen. If we knew why the problem with dominant minorities seems to be absent in the West, perhaps we would know how to address is better in the rest of the world.
   
   All of which leads us to the final objection to Chua's book - the lack of a solution. Chua spends a chapter on "The Future of Liberal Democracy", looking for ways outs. In the end, Chua offers two solutions: Prudence and Philanthropy. Prudence means that democracy and free markets should be introduced gradually, with adaptation to local conditions. Philanthropy, or rather PR, would be the attempt of the minorities to improve their image by contribution to society. I have to admit I'm skeptical of both.
   
   I doubt angry majorities would be won over by the Philanthropy of the rich minorities, at least in the long term; It is bound to appear as the self interested activity that it is, and worse, as charity, and therefore condescending. The problem with Prudence, or governmental checks on popular democracy and free markets, seems to me to be one of vicious cycles - the kind of countries that could most benefit from effective activist government policies are the ones least likely to have them; Governments in third world war countries are notoriously corrupt and inefficient (In general, see William Easterly's book cited above and also his The White Man's Burden: Why the West's Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good; Edward Luce's In Spite of the Gods: The Rise of Modern India offers ample demonstration of incompetence in action in India).
   
   Perhaps, and I say this very tentatively, the lesson we in the West should learn in humility. Western politicians, intellectuals, and general public obviously lack knowledge of the conditions world wide, nor do we posses the keys to economic growth and development. Perhaps we should leave experiments with the suitable government and economic structure of every land to its own people. One may call this approach cold hearted realism... or maybe the age old principle of Hippocrates: First, do no harm.



2. Amy Chua writes about a subject that should get far more attention than it does: that most of the developing world has ethnic minorities that dominate the economy and that the majority are fundamentally hostile to the minority. Chua claims that the economic and political reforms pushed by the West fail to take into account this fact and, therefore, the result is repeated instability and violence.
   
   Free markets mainly benefit the ethnic minorities that already have the wealth, business connections and social capital, while doing little to benefit the masses. Democracy empowers the ethnic majority, who then use that power to persecute the market-dominant minorities. While Chua clearly beliefs that free market democracies are essential to the stability and prosperity of developing countries, she is ultimately very gloomy about the possibilities of a smooth and fast transition.
   
   Chua starts by showing that, in contrast to the Western nations, developing countries invariably have a very small ethnic minority that dominates the economy. In Latin America and southern Africa, it the whites. In Southeast Asia, it is the Chinese. In Central and East Africa, it is the Lebanese and Indians. In Russia, it is the Jews. In West Africa, it is the Ibo and Lebanese. Most of this is not new, Charles Sowell for example has written about this subject in great depth, but it is a topic that has been seriously neglected.
   
   Chua then shows that Western efforts to push free market and democratic reforms have one of the three following results:
   1) Ethnic majorities use their new-found political power to nationalize companies owned by market-dominant minorities.
   2) Market-dominant minorities protect themselves by supporting coups against the hostile democracies, leading to "crony capitalism."
   3) In the most extreme cases, ethnic majorities undertake ethnic cleansing and genocide to eliminate market-dominant minorities.
   
   One of the most interesting and thought-provoking sections in this book is about Jews in the Middle East and Americans globally. Each can be seen as international market-dominant minorities. While the rest of the book is focused on a minority in a specific nation, Chua shows that the same angst and violence that is focused on national minorities is also focused on the Jews in the Middle East and American globally. Because Jews and Americans are different ethnic groups who benefit disproportionately from free markets, the majorities focus their hatred on them.
   
   Finally, Chua wraps up with a serie of recommendations on what to do. This is probably the weakest part of the book, because she has caught herself in a conundrum. She has spent the entire book attacking Western promoted economic and political reforms, but she still believes that such reform is essential in the long-run. Her most interesting proposal is for market-dominant minorities to use philanthropy in their home nation to help the majority, particularly by funding high-profile national symbols. She also makes the case that Western nations need to be aware of the fact that nations with market-dominant minorities will react fundamentally differently to free market and democracy than ones that do not.
   
   Chua's main contribution is to introduce readers to the concept of market-dominant minorities: a concept that every observer of international affairs should be aware of (but few appear to be). For this, she deserves a five star rating. But the book has a number of glaring flaw that drop the rating to four stars.
   
   My main problem with this book are the following:
   
   1) Chua never shows how much the market-dominant minorities benefit their own nation. Charles Sowell shows that these minorities are often the drivers of their nation's economies conferring great benefits on the majority. Chua occasionally implies this, but more often she focuses on the suffering of the masses and the implication that their hatred of the rich minorities is partly justified. I wish she were more clear as to the tremendous benefits that market-dominant minorities bring, and the fundamental irrationality of the haters.
   2) Chua continually claims that free markets and democracy are breeding or at least exacerbating ethnic tensions, but she never gives any evidence of to an increase in ethnic tension over the last generation. She does give a lot of examples of ethnic riots, murders, nationalizations and coups, but she never shows that the frequency and severity have increased over the last generation. My guess is that the facts would show the opposite, completely argument against reform. Chua also makes frequent references to leftist/communist dictatorships of the past oppressing market-dominant minorities (a very interesting point), but she casually skips over the fact that this completely contradicts her overall argument. Anti-market authoritarian regimes are just as capable as market democracies of oppressing market-dominant minorities
   3) Sometimes Chua appears to be far too pessimistic about the standard-of-living of poor ethnic majorities in developing countries. She continually states that they are left behind by economic reform, but she never gives any concrete evidence. Based upon the hundreds of millions of people who have been lifted out of poverty in the last generation, it is difficult for me to believe that the contrast is as stark as she suggests. Clearly the progress is not as fast or as widespread as we would like, but it is not the stark ethnic divide that she suggests.
   4) Chua is also quick to label authoritarian regimes as "democratic" to support her argument. To label Zimbabwe, Serbia and Rwanda in the 1990s as democracies (to give just three examples) is a bit disingenuous. They were actually some of the most authoritarian and anti-market regimes in the world. If she had a tighter definition, I think that she would find that the authoritarian regimes are just as capable as democracies of oppressing market-dominant minorities. It is quite possible that these anti-market authoritarian regimes are worse for their country than the ethnic tension that Chua says market economies breed.
   
   Overall, though, I would highly recommend this book.



3. Excellent and compelling.
   
   I travel internationally 6 months of the year throughout the world, but even so, this book exposed a shadowy dark underbelly I was unaware of. The author's arguments are fresh, novel. believable and compelling.
   
   Anyone interested in world dynamics and the rapid pace of change that is affecting the entire planet will welcome this innovative and paradigm shifting book.



4. In World on Fire, Amy Chua proposes a thesis that is well researched, reality-based, and rooted in her experiences as an extended member of a Chinese Filipino family: The global spread of laissez-faire markets and nominal democracy has become a principal aggravating agent in group hatred and ethnic violence in some countries primarily outside the Western World where "economic-dominant minorities" concentrate enormous wealth and influence compared to the native, assimilated population.
   
   In the Philippines, ethnic Chinese make up less than 2% of the population yet control 60% of the country's economy, once aided by the Chinese-protective dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos. She further extends this model to comprehend the unintended consequences of globalization.
   
   Ms. Chua writes in a clear and easy style as she cites further examples of this phenomenon. The reader is afforded a better understanding of these issues in many of the world's hotspots that are often disregarded by the world's mainstream media. A primary causal agent of genocide we often see but fail to understand may be deeply rooted in profound humiliation and poverty as a newly empowered oppressed majority lashes back indiscriminately at a now overwhelmed economic/politically-dominant minority or quite often their indigenous political enablers.
   
   The author enumerates an array of Southeast Asian countries where a Chinese minority is overwhelming an indigenous people: Myanmar (Burma), a 5% Chinese minority exploits teak, jade, and rubies; pre and post-Suharto Indonesia, a 3% Chinese minority controls nearly 70% of the country's economy; and so on.
   
   In Africa, she cites Zimbabwe (Rhodesia) and Namibia where a minority white, South African elite extends its control over rich diamond mines: "South Africa's Oppenheimer family has controlled the richest diamond mines in the world since 1908"; the market-dominant minority Ibo of Nigeria, the Belgians giving rise to the Tutsi minority in Rwanda, and the Eritreans of Ethiopia.
   
   In Russia, the Jewish Russian oligarchs sparked renewed anti-semitism and Russian nationalism as the oft-inebriated Boris Yeltsin ignored, then encouraged the onset of "gladiator capitalism." Putin would later exploit these special interests to gain power, then cleverly appease the Russian people by virtually neutralizing them.
   
   The author also identifies similar market-dominant minorities -- the Indians, the Lebanese, the "pigmentocracy" of Mexico, Israel as a regional economic/politically-dominant minority in the Middle East, and the United States as a global economic/politically-dominant minority.
   
   Arguably, many readers may have implicitly sensed the issues treated in World on Fire. Amy Chua's thesis neatly organizes and fairly explores the facts with nearly 35 pages of notes and references.



5. In Christian tradition, two of the worst sins are pride-obsession with one's own status; and envy-hatred of others for their good fortune. In a way Amy Chu's book is an example of what happens when these two vices contact each other on a massive scale.
   Now it may be true that all men are equal in God's eyes. It is theoretically true that all men are equal before the Law. It is not true that all are equal in other ways. Some individuals are simply more successful then others. Furthermore some cultures are more successful. That is an un-PC thing to say but no one really consistently believes in equality among groups anymore then among individuals(do you believe the Yankees and the local little league team are equal? That of course is a hyperbole as the differences between cultures are more complex then those between baseball teams. But the point is made).
   What makes some cultures dominate the market? The more fortunate would say that it is because of the good qualities their culture teaches. The less fortunate would say it was because of immoral means. As an Anglo-American I would prefer to believe the former explanation but I am obviously biased. However the most probable explanation would be a combination of the two, mixed with the inscrutable whims of fortune. But whatever the reason the relationship causes ill-effects on people. The envy of the unfortunate can at times explode into pent-up bursts of shocking and spectacular hatred. The more fortunate are often more subtle. They seldom hate strongly, but they can often have a habitual snobbery that they are not aware of themselves and which can hammer at the helpless feeling of the less fortunate.
   The book however is interesting on it's own aside from any "message" it carries. It shows many stories of different groups, which have prospered, often against remarkable adversity. People's like the Ibo of Nigeria, the Jews, the Chinese, the Lebanese and so on. It gives the "market domination" relationship at various scales from the local to the global. The author seems to identify with "Market-dominant" minorities. And indeed their stories resonate with me as we. But she shows the abuse some members of these minorities have made of their good-fortune as well. She raises more questions then answers. Her main suggestion seems to be that market dominant minorities cultivate noblesse oblige. Which is all very well, and should be done anyway irrespective of self-interest. But I have read of plenty of examples of noblesse oblige, and it is not clear that they are all that effective in preventing hatred. Another point alluded to is that "noblesse oblige" includes helping the honor as well as the material circumstance of others. Specifically the phenomenon of a particular economic product becoming a cultural icon. An obvious example is French and food. The French resentment of Macdonald's becomes understandable on this level.
   An interesting counterexample which Chu never mentioned is the relationship between Nepali and English. English are a classic market dominant minority. Yet they have tended to get along reasonably well with Nepali. One reason for this can be seen: the English did not humiliate the Nepali like they did a number of other peoples. Rather by giving them material benefits in return for services that increased the prestiege of Nepali(soldiering and mountain climbing), they managed to avoid humiliating them. That was not the goal of course. The English wanted the Ghurka's to help maintain their power and they wanted the Sherpas to help win glory. But that is just the point: self interest helped make the relationship better then many. This is a divergence from the book but it does give a clue, if not how to solve the problem at least how to reduce it.
   One thing that the book did for me which it might not do for everyone is that it took the emotional sting out. It is easier to avoid the mixture of vestigial cultural-guilt on the one hand, and resentment of other's resentment on the other when one realizes that such things are part of life and we all have to live with each other, one way or another. I suppose some would say that that is just my own self-satisfaction talking. But one must learn to live with himself as well as others and I never claimed to be perfect. In any case, my individual sins are enough to get on with let alone worrying about my share in collective ones which is a dubious concept anyway. The writer never really had a solution to the problem and indeed that is just as well, as attempting to completely eliminate problems that are so ingrained comes very close to attempting to perfect mankind. Which is silliness at best and disastrous at worst. But one thing Amy Chu did do is make some effort to helping us all to understand ourselves and understand each other. And that makes it worth reading.

5 comments about The Sustainability Revolution: Portrait of a Paradigm Shift.

1. I bought this book along with a more reputable book "For the Common Good" for a sustainability class I am taking. This book is poorly written and repetitive of other environmental books. The author uses the same arguments, poorly I might add, as every other environmentalst wanting to publish a book. The bok is filled with facts easily found on the internet. His conclusions are repetitive from every conlusion concerning environmetalism. The author has no real concept of economics and uses the suggestion of intergenerational justice as if it were true. Not worth even the recycled paper it is printed on.



2. This book is perfect way to grasp what has happened and why in the sustainability movement. Andres Edwards introduces all of the right resources and contacts for anyone who is vested in our sustainability on this planet. He covers business, community and governmental approaches. In this book he simply introduces all the major themes a very broad field. It can be a little text book, but is also a very interesting read. I am the director for Sustainable Fairfax and Andres has also been a wonderful speaker for our volunteer trainings.



3. I good overview of the various different positions and definitions of what is sustainability. It's a little dry, but as a reference book this can't be beat.



4. The Sustainability Revolution provides a broad portrait of a paradigm shift, as the sub title claims. Although I checked this out of the library, this is a book to own and refer to especially if you are interested in furthering sustainable best practices or even wondering what they are. Sustainability can be a challenge to get understanding and organized around and this book neatly categorizes it in 7 chapters and concludes with a substantial resource section; it is well referenced throughout for additional follow-up.
   
   First we read about how sustainability's environmental roots were expanded to include consideration of the 3 E's, ecology, economy and equity; sustainability therefore looks at the interdependencies of the 3E's and engages a diversity of stakeholders when we broaden the undeniable scope of impact. Ecology is the environmental consideration in which we shift to a long term perspective, acknowledge and respond in turn to our dependence on our life support systems. Looking at economy we see a healthy environment and a healthy economy coexisting, not the opposition of these as is often still purported. The human well being requirement of the sustainability triangle is referred to herein as equity or equality as it acknowledges that the well being of the individual is dependant on the well being of the community and calls us toward a spirit of cooperation and ethics within the distribution of basic resources such as food, shelter and water and a greater emphasis on the value of education. The author then proceeds to describe sustainability principles in 5 basic categories, Community, Commerce, Natural Resources, Ecological Design, and the Biosphere with education as a key component of each as we weave our way into the sustainable path. Each of the respective principles are presented in a separate highlighted box within each chapter and then commented on by the author.
   
   Sustainability and Community describes tools created by task forces and working groups to tackle the challenges of bringing the 3E's into balance by implementing long term systematic approaches at all levels, local, regional, national and international communities. These include the Ontario Roundtable on Environment and Economy (local initiative,) the Minnesota Planning Environmental Quality Board Principles of Sustainable Development for Minnesota (regional,) The Netherlands National Environmental Policy (national,) and the Earth Charter's Commission and ICLEI (international.) All told these community based principles integrate a diversity of perspectives and interests toward defining and working toward a shared vision for a sustainable future.
   
   Sustainability and Commerce reveals how business practices and the long term health of our planet and all its life forms are advantaged when business mimics natural systems rather than destroys them. The precautionary principle is presented as an ethical standard wherein the company realizes that it must consider its investors and the community as a whole, igniting the conscience of business activity; if the best way for an individual to live is to do no harm, the same standard, already prevalent in other countries, must apply to the organization that has more power to do harm if precaution were not taken. The precautionary principle for example is about placing responsibility to avoid harm onto the manufacturer. It was implemented in 2003 in San Francisco at the municipal level. The Natural Step can be used by a company to assess its impact with respect to the laws of nature as it combines science and management best practices. The Houston principles links labor with environmental movements and offers the power of creative cooperation to bolster communities through jobs and healthy ecosystems. The CERES principles offer a voluntary approach to organizations that seek a conscience by providing a framework in which sustainability practices can be adopted in a supportive manner, and includes a risk reduction clause; in a sense the CERES principles leverage peer pressure and provide sharing of sustainable successes among its participants.
   
   Sustainability and Natural Resources describes the challenge for industries directly benefiting from resource extraction, the fuel from the former industrial revolution, and our shared need for survival such that even the American Petroleum Institute calls for conservation and investment in renewables but continues to ignore equity in resource usage. Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) wood is widely available and promotes sustainable forest usage while calling on each of us to consider where and how the products we consume are appropriated as does the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) that requires sustainable fishery. The Asilomar Declaration for Sustainable Agriculture practices speaks to the need to make our food systems sustainable; our broken system is witnessed in recent outbreaks of food contamination and the cost of food rising with the cost of energy as we grow our food large distances from the eating populations. Sustainable agriculture requires ethics for land usage and animal treatment and calls for a shift toward local food production, a recognition for the value of rural and farming lifestyles, heightened awareness regarding the true cost of unsustainable methods for growing food and the need to reduce government subsides that allow the mega corporate farm to continue in a manner that most would find unconscionable when its impacts are understood.
   
   Sustainability and Ecological Design shows that nature holds the key to how we can design the new way of producing, living and working in balance as it considers the interaction of architecture, people and nature. The Hannover Principles require that decisions are made within the context of Earth, Air, Fire, Water and Spirit; considering these essential elements reveals humans as being a part of and interdependent with nature and requires responsibility for the consequences of design. A waste free holistic life cycle approach to manufacturing is described in detail by the Hannover founders in "Cradle to Cradle Remaking The Way we Make Things." The Todds' Principles of Ecological Design place nature at the center of the design process and incorporate energy, architecture, food production and waste management with "bio-regional" approaches. The Sanborn Principles further include the needs of communities bringing beauty and practicality into our living environments in the form of parks, culture and healthy buildings. The USGBC promotes its LEED standards to create and assure healthy and energy effective buildings a rising major area of focus in building and renovation because of the magnitude of long term benefits with minimal increase in short term costs.
   
   Sustainability and the Biosphere calls each of us to reconsider our relationship with nature and each other, the crux of sustainability. Deep Ecology requires self realization to connect all human and non human life forms with the force that pulses through all life and cites diversity as a key value characteristic to remind us that we must act in line with the inherent value that promoting the well being of all life brings. The Charter for Rights and Responsibilities for the Environment extends Deep Ecology to all species further emphasizing interdependence with the natural world. The Biomimicy Principles as described in detail by Janine Benyus' book Biomimicry, reveal the lessons we can learn from nature such as the fact that nature recycles everything, nature runs on sunlight and nature uses only the energy it needs. I especially like the principle that nature taps the power of limits because it looks at nature's ability to leverage limits to its advantage such as seasonality instead of the 20th century human response to dare these limits into submission while breeding sickness. Permaculture Principles expands Biomimicry toward the integration of sustainability within economic, social and even political systems as these systems interact and can be designed to work with nature.
   
   The final chapter, Future Pathways charts and links all these principles herein that I took the time lay out in as sense to honor the importance of this body of work and the contributors to the sustainable revolution many included in the "advance praise" intro. These principles in total call for stewardship, an intergenerational perspective and offer nature as our teacher and require that we reach far beyond `green,' as we forge the sustainable path. Concluding with a robust Resource section further affirms that you can read this book to get started or to keep going. After reading this book you will be able to answer the question "If the industrial revolution is over what's next?" and be able to describe, explore and embrace the opportunities and challenges that "the sustainability revolution" offers.



5. I thought this was going to be an interesting read, but was disappointed. It reads like someone's dissertation that they reformatted into a book. Very dull and kept pushing to prove that we're in a revolution including what it takes to be technically called a revolution, etc. I only got a few chapters in and had to give it up and donate it to my local public library. Hopefully some kid doing research will be able to use it.

2 comments about Confessions of an Eco-Sinner: Tracking Down the Sources of My Stuff.

1. Pearce is one of my favorite writers. He really helps you understand issues of importance to all of us - food, water, global warming - and the writing is captivating. It takes skill to create such fascinating reading from topics which seem completely mundane, such as where your green beans come from ... I intend to give this book to many friends.



2. This is one of those books you don't really appreciate until the end. It is basically a collection of fairly short annecdotes about the author traveling around the world to find out where the stuff he uses comes from and the stuff he discards goes to. At first they seem kind of sketchy and underdeveloped, but as you continue to read, you realize that it's an informative and intersting collection of stories that are both memorable and build into a bigger picture of the global chain of consumption. Of course some stories are dissappointing in that they suggest abusive or undesirable practices, but many others do show some hope. I think many first-world consumers probably don't have a very clear picture of where stuff comes from or where it goes after they get done using it. Among the positive things I took away from this book were the scale of recycling that goes on worldwide, the potential for smart businesses that really give people hope in poor countries, and the positive sides of China's boom. Among the negative things were poor and abusive working conditions in many places, the unsustainability of some types of consumption, and the waste that takes place in some industries. In any case, this is the kind of book that will fill your head with lots of interesting images and give you lots of little examples to quite when talking about issues like manufacturing, importing of goods or recycling. Pearce's previous work on things like water usage and climate change help inform this book, and the extensive traveling he apparently did for this book makes for many interesting examples.

No comments about Harvard Business Review on Green Business Strategy (Harvard Business Review Paperback Series) (Harvard Business Review Paperback Series).

5 comments about Saving the World at Work: What Companies and Individuals Can Do to Go Beyond Making a Profit to Making a Difference.

1. Tim Sanders is a very conversational writer. I have read his previous book, Love is the Killer App. Tim does a wonderful job of asking people to examine their inner strengths and personalities and then he provides suggestions to make us better people. In his new book, Tim discusses the "green" movement, which is at the forefront of corporate and personal agendas. If you are not thinking about this, then you should because it will be your competitive advantage. Tim has made me think about how I could do more at home and in the workplace. I recommend this book and Tim's other books as well.



2. Urgent. Urgency. There's an underlying question that drives Saving the World at Work by Tim Sanders: "If not now, when?" The human race is destroying its' habitat at a break-neck pace even though the technology and know-how exist to ameliorate the damage. Sanders describes how one individual can influence a corporation or a community to take on the challenge of The Responsibility Revolution then nails the punch line in his last chapter: "If Not You, Then Who?" Read this book. Do it now.



3. Every age has its prophets who observe the movement of social, political and economic forces then project what the future might hold. Tim Sanders' new book, Saving the World at Work, represents the projections of a knowledgeable and thoughtful prognosticator. Sanders has observed the effect of recent events on the psyche of individuals. Events such as September 11, CEO scandals, and the environmental crisis are traumas that have shocked most individuals into re-examining the values they once embraced. Although the recent financial and economic shocks came post-publication, they bolster Sanders' case.
   
   In his book, Sanders identifies this change -- this new set of values being adopted -- as a social responsibility revolution. He sees the social responsibility revolution as people caring for more than profit alone. They care for employees, the community and the environment.
   
   He also describes how he sees the social responsibility revolution evolving. The true believers, or "Saver Soldiers" as Sanders calls them, are the change agents of this move to look beyond the bottom line. He articulates how you can become a Saver Soldier through assessing your realm of influence and then executing the long list of recommended actions that he lays out near the end of the book.
   
   I highly recommend reading this book. We live in a period of dramatic upheaval. The mindset and values of Modernity are giving way to a Postmodern perspective. "Saving the World at Work" helps clarify what many people feel. It also describes a likely scenario for the future that everyone will benefit from knowing about and helping bring to fruition.
   
   Michael Lee Stallard
   Primary Author, Fired Up or Burned Out: How to Reignite Your Team's Passion, Creativity, and Productivity



4. I loved Tim's first two books, Love is the Killer App and The Likeability Factor. These books discussed how we can impact the people around us for the better. I also have had the pleasure of seeing Tim speak, and hired him to keynote for the professional society I direct. I have been eagerly awaiting this new book because Tim's message is always clear, powerful and captivating.
   
   Saving the World at Work further captures the energy and commitment of Tim Sanders, and his quest to make our world a better place. Many of us want to take steps to save this world, but have only taken baby steps to do so. Tim helps us understand how to become fully committed to saving the world, explaining how dramatically we can affect it by changing the way we do business.
   
   This is not just another book about how to go green, but rather a tale of how we can have healthier bottom lines and more successful businesses by taking care of the environment, employees and the surrounding community.
   
   Tim will change the way you think about saving the planet and help you understand how you can indeed make a difference as an individual.



5. I wasn't really into the "green revolution" a few weeks ago. I'm an officer in the Navy and for the past 8 years I haven't exactly been surrounded by liberal-thinking environmentalists.
   
   I read this book because I'm a believer in Tim Sanders, and he has made a believer out of me.
   
   This isn't just a book for environmentalists to rally around, it's absolutely essential for anyone who wants to thrive in today's market and become a part of the "responsibility revolution". In a nutshell, this book will tell you how to identify the causes of wastefulness at work and inspire you to change them.
   
   In 5 years you may not have to read this book because there will be hundreds of others touching on the same subject. What Tim has captured is truly forward-thinking, and time will prove that we can't ignore what he's saying.
   
   Buy a copy, get inspired, then go out and make a difference.