Values-Driven Business: How to Change the World, Make Money, and Have Fun

by Ben Cohen, Mal Warwick

Read This Book...if you own or run a business or if you're thinking of starting one....if you think there has to be more to doing business than just making money....if you feel ''there's got to be a way'' to run a successful business without driving yourself and your employees to early graves....if you want to know how to build a business that will reflect your personal values, not force you to hide them....if you're studying business and you want to know what business can do at its best....if you've been hearing about ''corporate social responsibility'' or ''the triple bottom line'' and you wonder what all the fuss is about - or if you think those ideas apply only to major corporations....if you've read books or articles about corporate social responsibility and discovered they don't help you meet the real-world challenges you confront in a small or medium-sized business....if you've been thinking of investing in ways to treat your customers or your employees better or to reduce the damage you're doing to the environment but you think your company's just not big enough to afford it - or if you think your profits will go down if you do....or if you want to understand one of the most powerful new ideas that's affecting business all over the world today.

Genres: Business, Nonfiction

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

There is more than one Ben Cohen in the GR database. This is Ben^Cohen.

Bennett Cohen is an American businessman, activist, and philanthropist, and co-founder of the Ben & Jerry's ice cream company.

Reviews

[Worker Co-op & Economic Democracy Reading List]

Not specific to coops, but useful reference for coops with missions

[Josh Carter · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was very excited to read this book...

It takes a special kind of talent to make 140 pages feel like a tough slog, but somehow Ben and Mal managed to do it. I was shocked at how dry this tome was.

Interspersed between self-congratulatory, sanctimonious sermonizing was occasional good (albeit generic) advice which could be found a variety of places, with much more engaging authors.

Not worth your time.

[Anthony · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great examples on how companies have driven revenues and brand increase through their missions, but I'd wonder how those lessons apply early on. What were the struggles and had people already built the necessary runways?

[Katherine · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is a great practical book for anyone who wants to start a positive valued-oriented business or anyone who wants to know which businesses out there are positively contributing to the community. I read it as part of a book club and it was an easy read. But I think the reader who is interested in starting their own business will value it more than the common reader.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book. It was a quick read and gave a lot of great practical ideas about running a small or medium business in a sustainable way - both socially and environmentally.

[Keith Brooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read it and get it. But if you have no values than this will be lost on you.