Note: This review previously appeared in Compass Points April 2004
Thomas Ambler reviews:
Good Business, Leadership, Flow and the Making of Meaning
By Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Viking Penguin, 2003, 211 pages
Are you a leader who intentionally seeks to practice “bad business”? Of course not, that’s ridiculous! But maybe you are and don’t know it.
The title reveals much about the content of this book. It deals with what constitutes “good business,” is focused at leaders, promotes the concept of Flow and seeks to heighten meaning in our world.
The author is a professor of management and director of the Quality of Life Research Center at the Drucker School of Management and author of multiple, widely read books dealing with Flow, creativity and other positive psychological topics. He brings to his writing a deep understanding of history and a multi-disciplinary, philosophical approach that dares to grapple with the purpose of life.
He chose to base Good Business on intense interviews of 39 “visionary” business leaders, mostly CEO’s/owners, chosen by their peers as exemplifying “high achievement with strong moral commitment”. These leaders include people like Leon Gorman of L.L. Bean, Anita Roddick of The Body Shop, Jack Greenberg of McDonald’s, C. William Pollard of ServiceMaster, Robert Shapiro of Monsanto, Alfred Zeien of Gillette and Norman Augustine of Lockheed Martin. The author draws on quotes from these leaders as his springboard to introduce and develop each new, stimulating and often controversial idea.
You a can get a flavor for this book from the following smattering of its ideas:
- Business has the most important role of any institution in providing human happiness, Aristotle’s ultimate goal of existence.
- “Good business” is not limited to the generation of profit. It refers instead to transactions that make a genuine contribution to human happiness.
- Flow–the experience of having a deep sense of enjoyment in which “one becomes totally absorbed and loses oneself”–is the primary source of happiness.
- Leadership of “good businesses” must provide the conditions conducive to Flow for their employees and contribute to Flow for their customers and other stakeholders.
- The traits shared by all visionary leaders in this study are optimism, integrity, ambition coupled with perseverance, curiosity and empathy.
“For business to really contribute to the common welfare and, thus, assure its own survival through the support of society, it will need to nurture a greater number of visionary leaders who can infuse soul in the organizations, and who can convince the rest of us that it is worth investing in their projects.” This quote begins to encapsulate the essence of Good Business.
Do I recommend this book? Absolutely! I like to visualize the organization of my knowledge as a tree. When I encounter new knowledge, I add it to my tree, if it fits well enough to be grafted. Most business-related books only qualify as twigs on that tree. Good Business is a significant idea book that is seeping into my consciousness and forming major branches on my “knowledge tree.”
Does this sound like a book that you want to read? It should, if you are a leader and are willing to risk having your intellect and values challenged. I rate it a 10 on significance and a 7 on ease of absorbing (author’s or reviewer’s problem?). Good Business is a “must read”.
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Tom Ambler is a Senior Consultant with Center for Simplified Strategic Planning, Inc. He can be reached by email at ambler@cssp.com