A Better Way to Think About Business: How Personal Integrity Leads to Corporate Success [Paperback]

Robert C. Solomon (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0195167333 | ISBN-13: 978-0195167337 | Publication Date: September 4, 2003

Is business ethics a contradiction in terms? Absolutely not, says Robert Solomon. In fact, he maintains that sound ethics is a necessary precondition of any long-term business enterprise, and that excellence in business must exist on the foundation of values that most of us hold dear.
Drawing on twenty years of experience consulting with major corporations on ethics, Solomon clarifies the difficult ethical choices all people in business face. He uses an "Aristotelian" approach to remind readers that a corporation--like an individual--is embedded in a community, and that corporate values such as fairness and honesty are meaningless until transformed into action. Without a base of shared values, trust and mutual benefits, today's national and international business world would fall apart. In keeping with his conviction that virtue and profit must thrive together, Solomon both examines the ways in which deficient values actually destroy businesses, and debunks the pervasive myths that encourage unethical business practices.
Complete with a working catalog of virtues designed to illustrate the importance of integrity in any business situation, this compelling handbook contains a gold mine of wisdom for either the small business manager or the corporate executive struggling with ethical issues.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Excellence in business depends on "integrity, values and virtues" as much as profits, says philosopher Robert C. Solomon. In A Better Way to Think About Business, Solomon says that business leaders shouldn't be torn between doing what is right and doing what is necessary to make money. "This is not only personally painful, but it is also bad for business. It leads to inefficiency and distrust. It leads to poor morale, bitterness and cynicism. And it results in a diminished reputation, both of one's own business and of business in general." A good corporation fosters an environment that encourages people to develop their skills and their values. A bad corporation, on the other hand, is a "white-collar version of hell" that ultimately pays for its sins through disgruntled employees and unhappy customers, says Solomon, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin.

Solomon spends a chapter debunking the Machiavellian myths that now dominate business. He argues in another for integrity in free enterprise. He devotes a third section of the book to describing 45 business virtues, including compassion and trust, and the importance of each. He also provides a historical and philosophical context, citing Aristotle and Adam Smith, among other great thinkers. A Better Way to Think About Business is persuasive reading for employers, employees, and those concerned about corporate behavior. --Dan Ring --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

"In this brief, readable addition to the business ethics literature, Solomon offers a clear and pragmatic exposition.... This concise account is recommended for public, academic, and practitioner library collections. It will be particularly useful to readers with limited time."--Choice

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Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (September 4, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195167333
• ISBN-13: 978-0195167337
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #173,504 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

G. Lee Bowie received a Ph.D. in Philosophy from Stanford University and has taught at University of Michigan, University of Mass, Amherst College, and Hampshire College. Currently he is Professor of Philosophy at Mount Holyoke College. Meredith W. Michaels received a Ph.D. in philosophy (with Clancy Martin), ETHICS AND EXCELLENCE, THE JOY OF PHILOSOPHY, and TRUE TO OUR FEELINGS, and he was co-editor of TWENTY QUESTIONS, Fifth Edition (with Lee Bowie and Meredith Michaels), and SINCE SOCRATES (with Clancy Martin).

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Successful Corporation has nothing to do with football., July 26, 2000

By 

E. A. Lovitt "starmoth" (Gladwin, MI USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Better Way to Think About Business: How Personal Integrity Leads to Corporate Success (Hardcover)

Forget Attila the Hun. Ditch Machiavelli. Stop thinking about your corporation in terms of a football game or a war. There is a better metaphor, and you will be happier and more successful if you adopt it. According to Robert Solomon (and he quotes Nietzsche among others, to prove his case!), many of our personal values seem to be in conflict with those of the corporation where we're employed, because our way of thinking about business success has been poisoned by the mental models we use, and the leaders who we are asked to emulate (football coaches and 'The Scourge of God'? ).

"A Better Way to Think About Business: How Personal Integrity Leads to Corporate Success" delivers exactly what its title promises, and has already helped me through a couple of ethical dilemmas that I've had to resolve in the course of my job. This book is very clearly written and provokes clear thinking on the subject of business ethics. It does not insult your intelligence by stringing slogans together and calling the result a 'business ethic'. (Personal note: I am so bloody sick of books that proport to teach me 'Managing by Values' and turn out to be fluff and slogans and bad writing to boot. Business ethics is a very complex and gut-wrenching subject, and some authors need to treat their readers with a bit more honor and dignity.)

Sorry for the above tirade. Read this book. If you don't have time to read the whole thing, dip into the 'Catalog of Business Virtues' at the end of the book and try to schedule a virtue per day to think about on the long commute home. I'm sure I'll keep going back to Robert Solomon for a 'better way to think about' the really tough business situations.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Refreshing, thorough, and exceptional! Read it., November 2, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: A Better Way to Think About Business: How Personal Integrity Leads to Corporate Success (Hardcover)

Robert Solomon offers a practical, clear and systematic approach to thinking through the place of integrity in the success of any enterprise. It is as applicable to your life as to your business.

This is a remarkable book in that it lays a sensible, philosophical foundation and builds a compelling, practical case for the place of virtue in business. His definition, that "a virtue, in essence, is a value embodied and built into action", leads the reader to understand the true basis for a successful strategic planning process. Solomon emphasizes the need for corporations to see themselves as communities, people- rather than profit-driven, and, thus, to change to "a better way of thinking". An excellent, careful, scholarly treatment presented in a linear, holistic, engaging style, this book, taken to the boardrooms of the world, can only change business for the better. It is a must-read for those who care to maintain their sanity in the multi-faceted corporate world. The book is aptly named!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Personality integrity goes hand-in-hand with business success, May 12, 2006

By 

Patrick D. Goonan "see profile for URL" (Livermore, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Better Way to Think About Business: How Personal Integrity Leads to Corporate Success (Paperback)

In this book, Robert Solomon asserts that sound ethics is precondition for any long-term business and that success depends upon alignment with the values that operate within the community that the business operates within. In other words, profit depends upon shared values and companies that ignore this principle eventually end up failing.

Robert Solomon uses an Aristotelian approach i.e. he is quite cognitively oriented. His books appeal to the logical mind, but the implications certainly extend to larger contexts and areas that are important, but more difficult to articulate. This larger processing and application is often left to the reader.

As multinational corporations gain more power to do good and ill on large scales, it is increasingly important for business leaders to look at the ethical implications of how they do business, the economic landscape and even the metaphysics that underlies our economics. This book is certainly a right step in that direction. I would also suggest that we look at how we compensate our CEOs. For example, how would things be different if we compensated CEOs more heavily on their five and ten year performance rather on the very next quarter's results.