Ratings6
Average rating3.5
"We believe that business is good because it creates value, it is ethical because it is based on voluntary exchange, it is noble because it can elevate our existence, and it is heroic because it lifts people out of poverty and creates prosperity. Free-enterprise capitalism is the most powerful system for social cooperation and human progress ever conceived. It is one of the most compelling ideas we humans have ever had. But we can aspire to something even greater." - From the Conscious Capitalism Credo. In this book, Whole Foods Market cofounder John Mackey and professor and Conscious Capitalism, Inc. cofounder Raj Sisodia argue for the inherent good of both business and capitalism. Featuring some of today's best-known companies, they illustrate how these two forces can -- and do -- work most powerfully to create value for all stakeholders: including customers, employees, suppliers, investors, society, and the environment. These "Conscious Capitalism" companies include Whole Foods Market, Southwest Airlines, Costco, Google, Patagonia, The Container Store, UPS, and dozens of others. We know them; we buy their products or use their services. Now it's time to better understand how these organizations use four specific tenets -- higher purpose, stakeholder integration, conscious leadership, and conscious culture and management -- to build strong businesses and help advance capitalism further toward realizing its highest potential. As leaders of the Conscious Capitalism movement, Mackey and Sisodia argue that aspiring leaders and business builders need to continue on this path of transformation -- for the good of both business and society as a whole. At once a bold defense and reimagining of capitalism and a blueprint for a new system for doing business grounded in a more evolved ethical consciousness, this book provides a new lens for individuals and companies looking to build a more cooperative, humane, and positive future. - Publisher.
Reviews with the most likes.
The central idea of the book is solid and there's a lot to be liked about the win to the 6th way of running a business. The point being caring about everyone related to the business, not just pursuing the profits. Everyone being: customers, employees, suppliers, investors, community, and the environment. Making decisions with all these parties in mind will create a better and more sustainable business.
But all this is based about constant self-praise in the form of Whole Foods being the best of the best. Which would be fine if the subtitle of the book was “and how we implemented it in Whole Foods”. But it's not. It's saying it's about business and it's “heroic spirit”. There's also a lot of hand-wavy cherry-picked statistics trying to prove his points which just leads to a lot of face palming and screaming in the void while reading.
All in all, I agree with Mackey - capitalism isn't great but it's best we got so far. The main problem is pursuing profit for profit's sake. Or growth for growth's sake. Conscious Capitalism tries to give an alternative view and persuade you that this is the way of all the great companies and that all others will fall in line and follow this model eventually. This is where we disagree since I see the future as far more bleak.
It's a “Whole Foods is the best” book camouflaged as business book. It's not bad, but feel free to skip it and read Let My People Go Surfing which is more honest about what it is and also provides you with more actionable ways to run your business.
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