Values-Driven Business: How to Change the World, Make Money, and Have Fun (Social Venture Network)

Based on case studies, this book presents a how-to road map for those who want to stay true to the principles of
(1) NOT producing products in an environmentally damaging way and
(2) treating people right--giving employees dignity, respects and decent pay!
The book includes resources for those who want to narrow the gap between their personal values and business practices. The book addresses the myriad of dimensions of values-driven businesses relating to employees, customers, stockholders and communities. Highly recommended.

The founding CEO of one of the largest green businesses in the world (Ben & Jerry's) joins up with the CEO of a boutique consulting firm to show that businesses of any size can benefit from sustainability. In this well-written book, they lay out five dimensions of a values-driven business: relationships between your company and its employees, customers, suppliers, and community. Each of these gets a full chapter, as does the business's impact on the environment.

The best thing about this book is the set of action steps and checklists to help any entity (business, non-profit, institution, or even activist organization) incorporate a social and environmental agenda while in most cases actually becoming more profitable.

Examples include:
* Five justifications for why socially responsible companies are often more profitable
* Ten-point checklist to determine readiness to start the process
* Seven arguments for paying your employees well (my favorite: it forces the company as a whole to work smarter)
* Five reasons why profitsharing with employees builds a business, and six models to incorporate the idea into practice
* Ten ways to turn your employees into your partners
* 19 specific methods (many of them easy and no-cost) to reduce your company's environmental footprint

The other thing I love about this book is the use of clear, simple case histories, drawing extensively from the authors' own history but also from many other companies. You'll learn, for instance, about Clif Bar's five-fold bottom line: "the planet, the community, our own people, the health of our brands"; you'll also learn about Mal Warwick's extremely innovative charitable programs...Peachpit Press's amazing vacation policy...Recycline's commitment to reduce the waste stream...and how all of these and many other social/environmental policies actually help these companies be more profitable.

Shel Horowitz's award-winning sixth book, Principled Profit: Marketing That Puts People First, demonstrates how to build a business around ethics, environmental sustainability, and cooperative practices--and how to develop marketing that highlights those advantages.

What an interesting book, instructing businesses on how to be profitable AND ethical! I wish more people would operate in such a manner. I do, and always have, and now after almost 20 years in business can recognize when someone else (client, supplier) is less than ethical. I avoid them. I wish I had that insight when I first started! With only my vacation day payout and a few thousand in the bank, I started a computer network installation and service company. I was asked to bid on a job for prospective new client. I put a lot of time and thought into it and put in my bid. They asked for more detail, so I gave them that. They asked for specific part numbers, so I gave them that. They asked for an implementation map, so I added that. After a couple of weeks and dozens of pages of instructions...they had all they needed to do the job themselves - and that's just what they did. They bought all the goods mail-order and pulled the cabling per my freeloaded instructions, same as they re-mapped their servers, changed their operating system license, etc. I learned a lesson that day. If businesspeople can legally (but unethically) steal from you, the usually will. Oh, the name of the company that did this to when I was first starting out? Take a guess...the big hypocrites.

Using examples from their personal experiences and from a wide variety of U.S. companies, Ben Cohen and Mal Warwick show how companies have incorporated socially progressive and environmental values into their daily business practices. The authors insist that companies can help their communities and make money at the same time, adding a new dimension to traditional business models, which focus only on profits. Although the authors' enthusiasms sometimes carry them away - for example, they insist that customers who don't share your values will respect you so much for them that they'll stay loyal anyway - the "values-driven business" is an idea whose time has come. We recommend this book to business owners large and small who want the benefits of their work to extend beyond just themselves and their stakeholders.

I eventually want to start my own apparel business, but I know the industry is rife with ethical abuse. Because of this, I want to run a business that does as little harm and as much good as possible. Until a few weeks ago, I was not sure how to bring that ideal to practical fruition. After receiving "Values-Driven Business" from someone who works for a socially responsible company, many of my questions were answered.

Why am I glad I read the book? Here are some attributes:

1) It is quick to read, enjoyable, and optimistic. No gloom and doom.
2) It is a fantastic overview of socially responsible business. This is NOT a deep, complicated analysis of the topic. It is simple enough for people who aren't sure where to start and need an introduction, yet has interesting, enlightening examples for someone already familiar with socially responsible business.
3) It is well organized. The authors go over five dimensions of values-driven businesses (some of which I had not considered): employees, suppliers, customers, community (local and global), and the environment. At the end of each section is a list of specific actions that one might consider incorporating into a business to create positive change.
4) The text goes beyond black and white binary opposition, and challenges assumptions about socially responsible businesses (e.g., they can't make a profit, they make inferior products, etc.).
5) Practical examples of values-driven companies comprise the backbone of the text. This shows the principles at work, and shows that two businesses can have different ways of incorporating values; there is not one "right" way to be socially responsible. Reading about all the different solutions people have devised to make a difference was my favorite part of the book!

I highly recommend this book as a concise introduction that is chock-full of inspiring examples of values-driven businesses in action. It will empower you to make abstract ideals a reality and it provides an excellent foundation for further inquiry!