Customer Reviews

Saving the World at Work: What Companies and Individuals Can Do to Go Beyond Making a Profit to Making a Difference

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Why did Tim Sanders write this book? He answers that question in the first chapter: "I want to recruit you, and train you, for the Responsibility Revolution. I want to help you feel good about your company and grow more good within it. I want to help you feel more fulfilled by your job, by helping your company to see the value of giving back to the larger world." This declaration should come as no surprise to those who have read Sanders' previous books, Love Is the Killer App: How to Win Business and Influence Friends (2002) and then The Likeability Factor: How to Boost Your L-Factor and Achieve Your Life's Dreams (2006). He really does believe that it is possible to link personal goals with business goals while adding value, do so without a great deal of funding, and thereby reduce a company's "social inefficiency." This book is best viewed as an operations manual for "infectious revolutionaries," one in which Sanders explains how to use various "business social" and assessment skills.

Sanders' use of the words "revolution" and "revolutionary" are not hyperbolic. He wants to help achieve what Clayton Christensen characterizes as "movements punctuated with disruptive innovations that either create new markets or reshape existing markets." These movements will change, radically, how companies do business. That is certainly true of Aveda, IBM, Interface, Lush, Medtronic, Patagonia, SAS Institute, Timberland, and Whole Foods. These disruptive movements occur in five phases and Sanders devotes a separate chapter to each: First, a major change of circumstances that dramatically impacts how we think about the business landscape, creating in Phase Two a new set of values prior to the arrival of the innovators in Phase Three; then, "as the new values reach a tipping point of mass popularity, the fourth, and most extreme, phase of a business revolution occurs: disruption."

In Leading the Revolution, Gary Hamel describes it this way: "First, the revolutionaries will take your markets and your customers. Next they'll take your best employees. Finally, they'll take your assets. The barbarians are no longer banging on the gates, they are eating off your best china."

During the final phase, what Sanders calls The New Order, companies develop proficiency in service to new markets, innovators become more sophisticated, and customers become more demanding. "Eventually, surviving companies will satisfy the new market needs and the competition will then turn to who does it best." The process of natural selection continues as new "infectious revolutionaries" appear, disrupting the terms of engagement in what continues to be a Responsibility Revolution.

Of special interest to me is what Sanders has to say about what he calls the "saver soldier," a highly motivated individual who leverages work as a platform to help save the world. She or he is convinced that a business can do well by doing good. Sanders examines various saver soldiers, three of whom (e.g. IBM's Jeff Immelt, Patagonia's Yvon Choinard, and Aveda's Horst Rechelbacher) "have stated that they don't expect to achieve their vision single-handedly; they need foot soldiers to scout, innovate, and execute new ideas." Sanders identifies and examines "The Six Laws of the Saver Soldier" in Chapter 8 that, together, offer an appropriate belief system for newly enlisted "troops." For example, The Law of Abundance (#3) essentially asserts that there is always enough to go around. That is, "doing good" and "doing well" are not mutually exclusive. On the contrary, Sanders insists, they are inter-dependent. It would be very difficult (if not impossible) to have one without the other. Companies that are actively engaged in the Responsibility Revolution will probably attract the "best and brightest" people and then retain them. What these companies offer will have greater appeal to customers. Most important of all, these companies will make a difference to their society, indeed to their planet, while gaining and then sustaining "an unshakable edge" over their "laggard competitors." Tim Sanders asks, "If not now, when? If not you, who?"

Meanwhile, tick tock, tick tock, tick tock....

So many of the "social responsibility" and "go green" books make it hard to see how the average guy on the street could possibly make a difference. In "Saving the World at Work" Tim brings it on home. One person can make a difference.

The last chapter of "Saving the World at Work" is "If Not You, Then Who? -- It took my breath away and is a stark wake-up call to our personal responsibility. There is too much emotional impact in that story to try to quickly tell it here - and I want everyone to anticipate it as they finish reading the book. I was reduced to tears as I read it - and immediately had 4 or 5 people in my own life come to mind. I just want to thank Tim for that powerful example of how one person really can make a difference.

If you ever thought you'd need to wait for the weekend to make a difference, think again. Tim brilliantly connects the dots between saving the planet and saving the office 24/7. This message could not possibly come at a better time! Most people are starving for more meaning at work and what better way to do that than know you can change the world at the same time!

I read as many b-books as I can, from management strategies, to networking, to the minding ledger. Too often suggestions and good stories abound, but they lack real solutions. Saving the World at Work on the other hand, inspires but also provides the why and how to effectuate real change. The best part is that the revolution is inevitable, so Tim Sanders really does give you a glimpse of the future. Please, please, read, recognize, and go revolutionize.

I met Tim at a recent conference and was inspired by his message that acts of individual initiative would lead companies large and small in the Responsibility Revolution. "Saving the World at Work" does a very good job of making Tim's compelling message available to everyone.

In this book, he defines a business landscape where demographics, technology and world events converge into a perfect storm that is reshaping consumer values and behaviors. And, in this new order, a company's social consciousness - how they treat their employees, their communities and our planet - will play a major role in the company's success.

Best of all, he shares the six laws of the Saver Soldier to help people with a passion for doing good to understand how to connect their dreams to business realities to create both social and economic value.

This book is highly recommended for business leaders and anyone who wants to be one.

Meeting and listening to Tim Sanders at an international conference made me want to read this book. When I did, two things stuck out. First is the concept of the Responsibility Revolution. Second is the concept of the Saver Soldier.

As to the first, Sanders did his homework. His notion of the trend he's identified at the Responsibility Revolution is not a personal polemic based on a speaker/consultant's motivational message. He looked deep into corporate efforts, conducted independent surveys of consumers, and spent time with a number of CEOs who are balancing "doing well" with "doing good." What his research suggests is that customers want to make a difference with their buying power, and they're (we're) beginning to look at our suppliers and vendors more critically to see if they're doing the right thing for society and the planet. Those companies that pass consumer scrutiny will maintain their relevance. In other words "doing good" is replacing "being different."

In Tim's words, "Good is the new Great."

As to the second, the concept of the Saver Soldier is both catchy and compelling. A Saver Soldier is essentially an individual who is rightly categorized as a servant leader (to borrow Robert Greenleaf's term for it). Responsible companies, he says, are full of people who actually care about each other as well as the greater community. Tim's book is chock full of stories that could easily fit into one of those "Chicken Soup for the Soul" books, the difference being that not only are these Saver Soldiers changing lives, but making good business sense at the same time. Having worked with Toyota, a company he cites as one leading the revolution, I can attest to how correct he is -- the people there behave more like volunteers fighting for a cause than the stereotypical organizational man/woman fighting for a promotion.

I won't give away the end story, but suffice it to say that it is one of the most gripping stories of life in a corporation you'll ever read. My bet is Sanders had a tough time deciding whether to use it first or last in the book. It grabs you.

The book's a great read, the language is easily accessible, and it's the perfect book for the plane.

I wasn't really into the "green revolution" a few weeks ago. I'm an officer in the Navy and for the past 8 years I haven't exactly been surrounded by liberal-thinking environmentalists.

I read this book because I'm a believer in Tim Sanders, and he has made a believer out of me.

This isn't just a book for environmentalists to rally around, it's absolutely essential for anyone who wants to thrive in today's market and become a part of the "responsibility revolution". In a nutshell, this book will tell you how to identify the causes of wastefulness at work and inspire you to change them.

In 5 years you may not have to read this book because there will be hundreds of others touching on the same subject. What Tim has captured is truly forward-thinking, and time will prove that we can't ignore what he's saying.

Buy a copy, get inspired, then go out and make a difference.

Simply put, this book will open your eyes in very realistic and reasonable ways to what you as an individual and you as a leader (or one who does not know they are a leader yet) can do to change the world starting at that place we all spend much time and energy: work. I attend many conferences both as a planner and an attendee and while I have been wowed by many messages I have never been so literally moved to action. I bought the book, read it in one sitting and started handing them out to friends. These are not philosophical statements in the book, they are examples of what can be done by changing your personal philosophy. If you want to be motivated to accomplish deliverables, this is your book.

I'm not one to randomly write reviews. Coming from the world of publishing, it takes a lot for a book move me. But this one did. It resonates with the truth -- that everyone can do something to enrich people's experience, our communities, and our businesses.

Sanders says, "Today, good is the new great." Then he goes on to show how the Responsibility Revolution is changing the way people interact with business. This is a handbook for saving our companies, our communities, and ourselves, by understanding how our values are changing, and we're changing with them. It's told with care through the stories of real people who discovered they want to make a difference while they make a profit. Just follow the directions.

I had the opportunity to listen to Tim Sanders speak last fall at the 2009 Association of School Business Officials conference in Chicago, where he discussed our responsibility as humans to look into our lives at both work, and at home, and decide that it's time to stop looking to just make a profit and start making a difference in the world we live in. Mr. Sanders' message about social responsibility and environmental practices were enough for me to purchase his book.
Tim Sanders' book was a delight to read. He has the unique ability to tell stories by meshing hard statistics and real life experiences. His delivery is both entertaining to read and relevant to the concept of the Responsibility Revolution. Mr. Sanders explains that people at the front of this revolution are part of the "Them Generation," people who understand there is enough to go around and are making a cause to give some of it to others. Sanders' book goes on to express the importance of product quality; based not on look, feel or durability, but sustainability and quality.
If you are someone who is trying to make a positive impact on the world, but doesn't quite know the right avenue in how to accomplish this goal, Tim Sanders' book is an excellent tool to direct you down the right path.