Living Above the Store: Building a Business That Creates Value, Inspires Change, and Restores Land and Community--How One Family Business Transformed Itself ... Using Sustainable Management Practices (Hardcover)

~ (Author), Ray Anderson (Foreword)
Key Phrases: sustainable management practices, shaping congruence, living above the store, Sustainable Fellwood, Paul Hawken, United States (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Living Above the Store breaks the mold on business writing. This is a tale of three generations of the Melaver family, the purported end of the world, and the true nature of enterprise. It is a book about the greening of business to be sure, but it is literature first, brilliant disquisitions and narratives that place commerce within the broader context of history, culture, and the cherished human values that bind us together. Martin Melaver has enlarged the vocabulary of commerce and restored it to a place of honor, a timely gift in an era of disillusionment. You may put it down to absorb what has been written, but you will not forget the stories of courage, the humility of reflection or the import of what has been said, and you will want to read it straight through to the end."--Paul Hawken, author of The Ecology of Commerce

“Living Above the Store is the right book for these difficult times, when business needs to regain trust. Melaver starts with specific stories of running a family business, sharing successes and failures, frustrations and joys, and then broadens out to illuminate general principles for running a sustainable business. These stories still stick in my mind, long after I have put the book away.”--Marc Gunther, contributing editor, Fortune

“At long last, a visionary work that reminds us what businesses once were, and can once again be. Martin Melaver has shared with us the story of his remarkable real estate company, eloquently teaching us how to run a business that is not solely about making a buck, but about building a sustainable society. Mandatory reading for leaders from all sectors—business, NGOs and government—who believe that our work should make the world a healthier, kinder and more prosperous place.”--Eilon Schwartz Director, The Heschel Center for Environmental Learning and Leadership, Tel Aviv

“There is a third century teaching that says, ‘Do not separate yourself from the community.’ Commentators since have interpreted this to mean that even if one can accomplish more alone, distancing oneself weakens the entire community. The unique contributions of every individual are critical to the dialogue and discussion which nourish the community. Martin Melaver offers his own commentary on the building and sustaining of community. Each chapter is multi-layered and engaging. Not only does Melaver aspire to connect his actions to a vision of ‘Building a Business That Creates Value, Inspires Change, and Restores Land and Community,’ but he inspires others to do so as well.”--Rabbi Nina J. Mizrahi, Director, Pritzker Center for Jewish Education, Jewish Community Centers of Chicago

The most sustainably growing family business leaders, I find, are philosophers of management. Living Above the Store is a compelling example. Further, it is a wonderful story built on wonderful stories. All business leaders will be inspired by the power of connecting driving values with convincing stories.--John L. Ward, Clinical Professor, Kellogg School of Management and Principal, The Family Business Consulting Group

"How would a business operate if people and values mattered as much as profit? Melaver's exploration of this question is so compelling not because he knows, but because he is so frank about his quest to find out."--Nadav Malin, President, BuildingGreen, LLC





“Martin describes the evolution of his ideas and practices with refreshing candor and humility. He is a role model for me, my students, and anyone interested in building a values-based, sustainable business.”--John Vogel, Adjunct Professor, Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth

“A truly superb work, Living Above the Store has challenged my thinking about management, and Southface will be a better organization as a result. Martin Melaver is smart and articulate, and has the courage to be honest. Creating a sustainable economy requires a transformational shift in the thinking of business. Melaver embraces this challenge and his book is a compass not only for businesses, large and small, but also for government, non-profits, and even individuals.”--Dennis Creech, Executive Director, Southface Energy Institute

“Engaging and informative, Living Above the Store is a story of remarkable change through Martin Melaver’s thoughtful, collaborative dialogue of discovery with his family, colleagues and community. He challenges conventional tenets and offers a business plan utilizing diversity, shared values, common purpose and a land-community ethic that is restorative for humankind and nature. Living Above the Store is for readers interested in realizing a business’ highest potential and regaining a more authentic sense of themselves or for anyone wanting to develop a life plan for the 21st century.”--Bob Berkebile, BNIM Architects

"This is a heartwarming and inspiring story of how business ought to be conducted at the intersection of community, common sense, and caring."--David Orr, author of Design on the Edge and Paul Sears Distinguished Professor of Environmental Studies and Politics at Oberlin College

“Martin Melaver’s beautiful retelling of his family and business experience provides valuable professional management directions for realizing ethically based business practices that are crucial to our society’s health. General readers will also be inspired by the author’s advice, personal journey, and approaches to the challenges he’s taken on.”--Michael Singer, artist/designer

“Martin Melaver has expressed the deepest aspirations of what it means to be a developer. He's done so in the most purposeful and important sense of the word—to create added value and new potential in the whole system of life. If all developers can work towards achieving this purpose we actually have a shot at what's required of us to achieve a sustainable and thriving condition.”--Bill Reed, Principal, Integrative Design

Product Description

The economic crash of late 2008 is just the latest evidence of the truth that many have known for so long: that too much of our modern economy is based on a house of cards. We need businesses that not only factor their impact on people and places into their equations for success but also strive to restore the communities and environments in which they operate. How can this be done?

In Living Above the Store, Martin Melaver provides a roadmap for creating such a business. It’s not only a “how to” but a “why to” that challenges business as usual to change.

Living Above the Store brings us into the story of Melaver, Inc., a third-generation, 70-year-old family real estate business, as it evolves toward becoming a thought and product leader in sustainable business practices. It is part business management theory and part case study, where sustainable principles meet sustainable practices, always grounded in day-to-day practice.

Living Above the Store demonstrates how to:

• Adopt a business model that provides for economic success while contributing to society and the environment
• Shape a business culture that is restorative to a workforce by helping employees realize their highest potential
• Leverage an ethos within a business that “ripples outward” to foster restoration of both land and community
• Embrace a notion of limits to growth
• Reframe ideas about competition, proprietary knowledge, and business success,

Living Above the Store is for readers who care about issues of community and sustainability as well as for those who want to learn more about how a socially responsible business can first redefine, and then find, success.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 340 pages
• Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing (May 7, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1603580859
• ISBN-13: 978-1603580854
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #813,150 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Refreshing look at how to run an effective business without sacrificing core values and principles, April 29, 2009

By	Benjamin D. Sher - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

While Living Above the Store pertains most particularly to builders and real-estate development businesses, it contains valuable strategies and lessons for creating a values-oriented business. If you are interested in creating a "flater" management structure in which all of your employees define and implement a vision for your business, Melaver describes a variety of techniques for doing so. I found the discussion of the "5 Whys" particularly intriguing as a method of getting to the root cause of a problem that usually forces oneself to admit one's own initial mistake or careless error. This book offers an alternative to the usual "maximize shareholder value" goal of contemporary capitalism, suggesting that other values such as environmental quality and employee meaning and satisfaction can be added to create a better, more meaningful business that can not only remain profitable but grow in a more orderly, natural pace. It should be added to your shelf of classic revisionist business books along with Ray Anderson, Paul Hawken, and E.F. Schumacher.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Makes a lot of good points, but level of discourse stays unnecessarily abstract and drawn out at times, June 6, 2009

By	Techie Evan - See all my reviews

(What's this?)

Many writers have written about how businesses can do well by doing good. In this addition to the literature, Mr. Melaver gives us his own take on the connection between doing good and doing well.

Early in his tenure as the new CEO of a 70 year old family-owned business, Mr. Melaver was confronted with this question: Does it matter what our business does (especially if we're only doing what others in the industry are or have been doing), as long as we're giving back to the community? Mr. Melaver's answer to this question is yes, and he tells us the whys and hows in this book.

According to Mr. Melaver, doing good and doing well are inseparable concepts; a business that takes into heart the principles described in this book will do well without having to sacrifice its core values.

Mr. Melaver's world view is an integrative view: Every person is the sum of many diverse parts -- land (place a person lives in), community, etc. -- and each of those individual parts is recursively the sum of many other diverse interconnected parts; the challenge for each of us is to reflect on our values and how we want to conduct ourselves so that we can grow to our highest potential at a thoughtful pace, while simultaneously giving others the same opportunities to reach their own potentials without disturbing the natural order of the integrated whole. This challenge requires, among other things, a willingness to change the way we view ourselves, competitors, knowledge sharing, partnering, etc. and is a daunting one.

The principles described in this book are supposed to help us rise to this challenge; but principles, like good high-level plans, still require the translation of abstract, general matters to concrete, more specific actionable items, and this is where, I think, the book falls a little bit short. While writing beautifully and passionately, Mr. Melaver sometimes tends to keep the level of discourse abstract for far longer than necessary, offering drawn-out nuanced discussions of ideas and concepts from many different angles and perspectives that sometimes borders on belaboring a point. The few times that Mr. Melaver was able to work in real-life examples of the described principles in action (e.g., the risks his family took when they stood firm on their desegregation stance, the effort to understand a stressed out employee who left the company, the admission of error when someone failed to follow one or more of the principles advocated in this book and lessons learned, etc) were some of the best moments I've had with the book because they were moments of insights for me as well, and I wish Mr. Melaver had been able to work in a few more examples, because principles, like good plans, are only as good as how well they're executed.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars If accepted, A Challenge that Could Better All of Our Lives, September 22, 2009

By	George McAdams (Alabama, USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

(What's this?)

In the 1960's, the book ZEN AND THE ART OF MOTORCYCLE MAINTENANCE was popular among those who leaned towards alternative ways of looking at the world. That book caused the reader to lose themselves in a complex, yet, simple task, of taking care of what one had.

In LIVING ABOVE THE STORE: BUILDING A BUSINESS... Martin Malevar has given us, those who long for a quality in ownership we seem to only remember in "Saturday Evening Post" ads, a true feeling that there is something more than greed and fear in American businesses. There can be life.

I was very fortunate to have been raised in small Central Western Alabama town of 3,000 after my father retired. In the early 1960's, the rampart culture of Big Business was just beginning to sweep from larger companies, via Madison Avenue, to medium size businesses in larger cities of the South. Our town only had the local businesses that depended on word-of-mouth advertising to exist upon and grow. The ethics and quality of the individuals who owned and ran those stores were a lot like those of the farmers who farmed outside our city limits. Those farmers managed their farms as if everything they did impacted on the future of their farm, because they knew it did.

Martin Malevar has provided us with the guidance on how one can, not only, restore this quality to the current business model, but must restore it if faith in our businesses is to be restored.