Be the Solution: How Entrepreneurs and Conscious Capitalists Can Solve All the Worlds Problems [Hardcover]

Michael Strong (Author), John Mackey (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0470450037 | ISBN-13: 978-0470450031 | Publication Date: March 16, 2009 | Edition: 1

Praise for Be the Solution

"In the past, many believed you either went into 'public service' to do good, or you 'went into business' to make money. Few realized that the long-term success of business depends on serving people, not making money. Few realized that perhaps the best way to serve the public was through free enterprise. Whole Foods Market founder John Mackey, visionary thinker Michael Strong, micro lender Muhammad Yunus, and a few others understand these truths. Be the Solution is the best single book to read to understand the emerging ways in which entrepreneurs can change the world."
—Gary Hoover, serial entrepreneur, founder of Hoover's Business Information Service, Hooversworld.com

"Michael Strong speaks the truth. A must-read for our new American government."
—Sam Wyly, founder, Green Mountain Energy; author of 1,000 Dollars and an Idea

"This book is totally fantastic. Treat your mind to a feast. Use it to tune your vision towards what really works."
—Charles Harper, Senior Executive VP, Chief Strategist, John Templeton Foundation

"Perhaps more than ever before, young people today are motivated by the desire to make the world a better place. Unfortunately, many have little idea about how to do it, and their educational studies provide them with little direction. In contrast, this book is a road map about how we can get from where we are to where we want to be—to a more peaceful, more prosperous, and more environmentally sound world. Plus, it is exciting, uplifting, and adventurous. Indeed, it provides the recipe for a better world."
—Dr. James Gwartney, coauthor of Economic Freedom of the World: 2007 Annual Report; Gus A. Stavros Eminent Scholar Chair at Florida State University

"This is a very thoughtful and timely book that asks us to look around—and to look within—the amazing opportunities that entrepreneurship offers to the world. I recommend this book to anyone interested in finding solutions to the current crisis."
—Giancarlo Ibarguen, Executive President, Universidad Francisco Marroquin

"At last, a book about the heart of capitalism as a force for creating good in the world for solving many of our tough societal problems. I hope our political leaders read it."
—R. Edward Freeman, Olsson Professor of Business Administration, Academic Director, Business Roundtable Institute for Corporate Ethics, University of Virginia

Editorial Reviews

Review

"If Be the Solution is a bold title, the subtitle is even bolder: How Entrepreneurs and Conscious Capitalists Can Solve All the World's Problems. . . Author Strong's point, however, is not just that there is plenty of room for idealism in the capitalist system. His main argument is that, to the degree that the world's problems can be solved at all, conscious capitalism is the only possible solution. For example, in the chapter called "Solving All Environmental Problems," you'll find the best argument I've ever read on why government is part of the problem, and why property rights are fundamental to the solution. If you know some young, or old, person who would like to change the world, Be the Solution would be an ideal present." (Barron's)

From the Inside Flap

What if the distinction between business and doing good vanished? What if all those who engaged in business were committed to a deeper purpose, and all those committed to doing good were entrepreneurial and enterprising? What would it take for a world of seven billion such people to solve all the world's problems?

More and more people are looking for meaning and purpose in their lives as employees, as consumers, and as investors. More and more people have more than enough material goods and are more interested in the qualities of the goods they buy; in the experiences associated with the services they provide and buy; in the way the companies they buy from act as citizens; and in self-actualization—rising up Maslow's hierarchy. As an increasing percentage of the population reaches the point at which they no longer need more stuff, what will they do, how will they live their lives?

If you are one of these people, wondering where to go from here, how to "be the solution" in the twenty-first century, Be the Solution provides an original perspective on how to create a better world. Focused entirely on entrepreneurial and Conscious Capitalist solutions to the challenges and opportunities facing humanity, Be the Solution shows how the entrepreneurial passion to create a better world, in combination with Conscious Capitalist business practices, can solve far more of the world's problems than any other approach.

In combination with leading Conscious Capitalists such as John Mackey writing on "Conscious Capitalism," leading social entrepreneurs such as Muhammad Yunus writing on "Social Business," and leading legal reform experts such as Hernando de Soto writing on "Is Economic Freedom for Everyone?," entrepreneurial educator Michael Strong lays out a philosophical, social, and legal framework for a FLOW vision through which all problems may be solved entrepreneurially.

FLOW, Inc., is an organization cofounded by John Mackey and Michael Strong to promote Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's concept of flow as optimal experience—the state in which we are so immersed in challenging, creative activity that we forget that time is passing. To be engaged in flow activities is happiness itself. Whether we are creators of enterprises or entrepreneurially creative within our life as employees, we can embody the entrepreneurial spirit and, in the words of Michelangelo, "criticize by creating."

In addition, FLOW refers to the global flow of goods, services, capital, humans, ideas, and culture, in a positive win-win-win world based on love rather than fear. Combining the best of the positive psychology and human potential movements with the best of free market thinking, FLOW offers a unique perspective on how to Be the Solution in the twenty-first century.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 374 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (March 16, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470450037
• ISBN-13: 978-0470450031
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #192,364 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Michael Strong was born in 1960 in Denver to teenage working class parents, who then moved the family to a farm in northern Minnesota in 1970, where they lived a life full of rasberries, cows, milk, pigs, hay, and cow manure. He spent his last year and a half of high school in Aspen, where he graduated before going to Harvard. He left Harvard after one year to attend St. John's College in Santa Fe. He had expected the year at St. John's to be a "year abroad" leading to a return to Harvard, but he loved the Socratic Seminar program there and went on to graduate first in his class at St. John's.

He had acquired a deep interest in political philosophy and the philosophy of science, and went to the University of Chicago to study why the Chicago economists, who considered themselves scientists, were advocates of free markets, which seemed self-evidently harmful. He gradually developed respect for free market economics and began a dissertation under Nobel laureate economist Gary Becker on "Ideas and Culture as Human Capital" while training Chicago public school teachers in how to lead Socratic Seminars.

Before finishing his dissertation he was hired as a full-time Socratic teacher trainer in Homer, Alaska. That led to a fifteen year career in education, starting as a public school reformer and leading to the creation of innovative private schools and programs in Alaska, Texas, Florida, California, and a charter school in New Mexico that was ranked the 36th best public high school in the U.S. on the Washington Post Challenge Index. While working in education he consulted for hundreds of schools around the world and wrote "The Habit of Thought: From Socratic Seminars to Socratic Practice." (For more Michael's more recent writing on education, see his articles at http://www.flowidealism.org/michael.html).

While at his last school, he met John Mackey, the CEO and co-founder of Whole Foods Market. John and Michael quickly discovered they shared an idealistic passion for making the world a better place - and that they believed that entrepreneurs and markets were the most effective means of creating a better world. Together they created Freedom Lights Our World (FLOW), a non-profit dedicated to "Liberating the entrepreneurial spirit for good." This led to programs promoting Peace through Commerce, Accelerating Women Entrepreneurs, and Conscious Capitalism. The clearest statement of the FLOW perspective is "Be the Solution: How Entrepreneurs and Conscious Capitalists Can Solve All the World's Problems" for which Michael is the lead author along with contributions by John Mackey, Muhammad Yunus, Hernando de Soto, Don Beck, and others.

Because global poverty is due to poor legal systems, Michael's research into entrepreneurial solutions to world problems has most recently led him into an exploration of legal techniques that will allow for the entrepreneurial creation of legal systems and the creation of Free Cities. He has blogged on these topics at "Let a Thousand Nations Bloom" and is working on creating Free Cities at various sites around the world.

Michael has two grown children and is married to Magatte Wade, the Senegalese serial entrepreneur who founded Adina World Beverages and The Tiossano Tribe.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Inspiring and Informative, September 19, 2009

By 

Lloyd R. Minick "Lloyd" (Maui) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Be the Solution: How Entrepreneurs and Conscious Capitalists Can Solve All the Worlds Problems (Hardcover)

I thoroughly enjoyed this inspiring and informative book, and have recommended it to many of my friends. As a college student I was constantly surrounded by people blaming free market capitalism for the world's most pressing problems; those same people rarely had any insightful or practical plans for fixing those problems. However, this book offers an approach to solving the world's problems that resonated with me deeply. Be the Solution argues that economic freedom and entrepreneurial opportunity are the best conditions for innovation, wealth-creation, and increased prosperity for all, and the author, Michael Strong, provides many examples of how government intervention in the market place has been responsible for many of the world's most pressing problems. The book offers many examples of socially conscious businesses that are doing wonderful good in the world; I especially enjoyed the chapter by Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, founder of the Grameen Bank and their micro-credit system for helping the poor. The chapter by John Mackey about Conscious Capitalism provides an enlightening and comprehensive view of business and how it can be a vehicle for doing good in the world, while also being profitable and creating value for all constituents. I thought the ideas that Strong presented regarding environmental trusts, and in general how security of property rights and entrepreneurial solutions to the tragedy of the commons dilemma are the most promising ways to protect the environment, were delightfully insightful and promising. Furthermore, I loved Strong's optimistic and idealistic vision of the future. I would recommend this book to anybody who is serious about social change. I am grateful to Michael Strong and all of the contributing authors.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must read for every business (small or large). Awesome, Intense!, February 23, 2010

By 

Tariq Ausaf (Plano, Texas USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Be the Solution: How Entrepreneurs and Conscious Capitalists Can Solve All the Worlds Problems (Hardcover)

In short this is an awesome book! Quite Intense. It is a must read for every business (small or large) in the world. I am a businessman and have been contemplating so many random ideas and visions ... but in this book, Michael Strong has provided concrete definitions to these ideas. The discussion on how the electronic media has completely taking over our perceptions of reality, especially for the K-12 group is right on. Never seen it articulated so accurately. Interestingly, the author's focus and emphasis on creating an environment of love and respect is quite crucial. It does seem like we do allow cultural innovation to take place in every realm of life except education. The refresher on Maslow's Hierarchy was awesome and John Mackey's "New Paradigm for Business" is great. The viable concepts of Conscious Capitalism are fantastic and the vision of FLOW as an entrepreneurial solution to the world's problems is a clear direction that all businesses should understand and adopt in a way that fits their business model and yet helps solve larger problems. Read it and you would agree.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Helping Others Self-Help, May 12, 2009

By 

Herbert Gintis (Northampton, MA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Be the Solution: How Entrepreneurs and Conscious Capitalists Can Solve All the Worlds Problems (Hardcover)

If you want to contribute to making a better world and you have an indomitable entrepreurial spirit, this is the book for you. Our is the age of doing good by doing well. The notion that market competition is all about greed is just a monumental error that you can help a new generation to avoid.