This IS the Day!

Today IS the day!

This is the day of the formal release of Firms of Endearment, of which I am co-author. This book is surely one of the most satisfying accomplishments of my long career. My co-author Raj Sisodia was a big reason for the great satisfaction I’ve experienced in working on this book. Raj is Trustee Professor at Bentley College, located just outside of Boston in Lexington.

Among my memories that I will treasure till my last breath are the writing retreats we took. Raj, being Indian, did most of the cooking. He is as fine a chef as he is an intellectual. I can’t wait to get to work on our next book!

Let me share with you how Wharton School Publishing describes the background for this book in the first paragraph on the front cover flap:

“We’re entering an Age of Transcendence, as people increasingly search for higher meaning in their lives, not just possessions. This is transforming the marketplace, the workplace, the very soul of capitalism. Increasingly, today’s most successful companies are bringing love, joy, authenticity, empathy and soulfulness into their businesses; they are delivering emotional, experiential, and social value – not just profits.”

It would be one thing if the publisher of Firms of Endearment were a second tier publisher known for feel-good books. However, Wharton is the first or second-ranked business school in America (depending on whether you’re from Harvard or not, one wag told me). When have any top-ranked incubators of MBAs sponsored talk about “love, joy, authenticity, empathy and soulfulness” in how businesses should be run?

This book is about a major paradigm in the arenas of commercial intercourse. The scale of this paradigm shift is unprecedented in terms of speed of development (within a single generation) and scope (it is global).

A little history can help us appreciate how the theories and philosophy of business are undergoing radical change:

King Magnus Eriksson granted the earliest corporate charter on record to the Stora Kopparberg mining community in Falun, Sweden in 1347. For just under five centuries corporations were chartered by the State for public purposes such as building hospitals, bridges, roads and universities. Generally, corporations undertook tasks deemed too risky or too expensive for individuals or governments to accomplish. The government closely oversaw them, and charters could be revoked if the corporations failed to fulfill their public purpose. Shareholders were beneficiaries, but were not regarded as the primary reason for the company’s existence.

The modern form of corporations traces its origins to an 1844 act in Britain that allowed them to define their own purpose. This largely shifted control of corporations from the government to the courts.

Now, as the 21^st century gets underway, we are seeing a return to the idea that companies have a social as well as a wealth creation purpose to satisfy in order to justify their existence. Firms of Endearment is about this movement and presents such names as Whole Foods, Costco, IKEA, IDEO, Southwest Airlines, Harley-Davidson, New Balance, and JetBlue as exemplars of this new direction.

Firms of Endearment is now available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Comments

[Yvonne DiVita]

David, this is so very exciting for you. I have finished your most excellent book and consider it a book to keep by my elbow - to remind me that Firms of Endearment are making a difference today, now... in the very world we live in.

Thank you for this insight. Full review on my blog to come soon.

[Raimo van der Klein]

Hi David,

This book sounds exactly what I am feeling aswell. Have a look at my blog. Last two post should interest you I guess..

Congratulations with the release!

P.S. Are interested in the Mayan Calender? (Cycles of evolution)

Have a look here you might like it:
http://video.google.nl/videoplay?docid=-8689261981090121097&q=The+Mayan+Calendar+Comes