The enlightened capitalists : cautionary tales of business pioneers who tried to do well by doing good /

O'Toole (Creating the Good Life) makes a meticulous and captivating study of business leaders throughout history who, having succeeded at business, attempted to do good, ruefully concluding not many could juggle both long-term. Some prevailed for a time, such as Robert Owen, who transmuted the Dickensian horrors of Great Britain's industrial revolution into a model workplace while generating record profits in his textile mills. Owen reduced hours, guaranteed employment, provided medical care and pensions, ensured workplace safety, and offered schooling. While Owen's achievement was remarkable, it was never duplicated, and he later lost his fortune attempting to build a utopian commune. More recently, Gravity Payments CEO Dan Price found himself reviled by his peers and even criticized by his employees after he cut his own salary and raised every worker's minimum pay to $70,000 per year in 2015 (some workers felt it was unfair that less-experienced colleagues received pay increases). O'Toole is an enthusiastic and heartfelt advocate of corporate virtue, but, he concludes, "the practices of investor capitalism... threaten the cultures of enlightened companies." He sees potential solutions in private and founder ownership of companies-to prevent shareholders from "excising" beneficial practices-and consumer pressure on businesses to address social issues. This comprehensive and thoughtful study of the often troubled relationship between business and benevolence will provide readers unexpected food for thought. Agent: James Levine, Levine Greenberg Rostan Literary Agency. (Feb.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

O'Toole (emeritus, Univ. of Southern California Marshall Sch. of Business; Creating the Good Life) details several British and American companies that adopted "enlightened" policies regarding the environment, treatment of employees and customers, or relations with the communities in which they are embedded. As a result, this book draws conclusions from the experiences of a specific set of companies. While the author clearly is sympathetic to these enlightened capitalists, criticisms of these leaders are also taken into account. One of the conclusions is that corporate social responsibility adds complexity and difficulty to a manager or director's job responsibilities. The author notes that it can also be seen as in conflict with the overriding goal of a company's management: stock price maximization. This leads to a second conclusion that, because shareholders tend to be solely fixated on short-term performance regarding the stock price, companies with publicly traded stock are inhospitable to enlightened leadership, which often results in long-term projects not immediately beneficial to the company itself. VERDICT This accessible, informative work should appeal to readers interested in learning more about corporate social responsibility.-Shmuel Ben-Gad, Gelman Lib., George Washington Univ., Washington, DC © Copyright 2019. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

A history and analysis of "enlightened capitalists [who] sought to address social problems primarily through their business practices, rather than by acts of charity or philanthropy."With the exception of the relatively recent rise of movements like corporate social responsibility, the divide between corporate ambition and philanthropic efforts has been relatively stark. O'Toole (Emeritus, Business/Univ. of Southern California; Creating the Good Life: Applying Aristotle's Wisdom to Find Meaning and Happiness, 2005, etc.), founding director of the Neely Center for Ethical Leadership and Decision Making, gives background and context to the efforts of those who have attempted to challenge one of business's oldest axioms that it is "hard to be good." These enlightened capitalists, writes the author, are notable for their strong ethical compasses, respect for other people, and commitment to sticking to their values through good times and bad. The more familiar characters include James Cash Penney, who created a retail empire that's barely holding on today; and Levi Strauss, whose company has "a jaw-dropping capacity to undertake a corporate volte-face in company policy and strategic direction." In the second half of the book, O'Toole narrates more modern storiese.g., the epic battles between William C. Norris and Seymour Cray to create the supercomputer; business mavericks like Herb Kelleher of Southwest Airlines and Bill Gore, who coined the term "unmanagement"; and environmentalists like Anita Lucia Perella Roddick, who genuinely tried to change the culture with her Body Shop chain of natural products. Looking forward, the author examines how some business leaders are changing their tunes on environmental and social challenges, integrating ethical considerations into corporate strategy and using social engagement with customers to gain a competitive advantage. O'Toole writes that his method in performing this social review is simple storytelling, and it works; the book serves as an informative road map for leaders who dare to break the mold.A tapestry of remarkable characters, high drama, and entertaining story arcs for leaders of businesses large and small. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.