True to Yourself: Leading a Values-Based Business (Social Venture Network) (Paperback)

~ Mark Albion (Author) "During my years as a Harvard Business School professor, I learned about leadership and strategy from the most successful CEOs of the world's largest corporations..." (more)
Key Phrases: Sounds True, United States, Co-op America (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

For those whose dreams involve using a small business "as a force for social change," entrepreneur Albion offers encouragement and valuable counsel. The second entry in the publisher's Social Venture Network series, this is a guide to leading "a company that reflects your values" and, along the way, building "a better world for us all." Assuming that the reader is already a believer, but just isn't sure how to reconcile principle and practice, Albion frames his advice in terms of compassionate, socially responsible leadership, though a lot of it is just plain good management. It's about how to build a company with the right priorities from the beginning, not just adding a veneer of responsibility. The book is grounded in the voices of earnest entrepreneurs and unusual case studies you don't see in every business book—including stories of failure as well as of success. While some readers may find Albion insufficiently hard-nosed ("It's better to fail trying to do what you really care about," he writes, "than to succeed at something else"), his sincerity is undeniably compelling. (July)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Product Description

Many leaders of small businesses want to serve the common good, but everyday pressures can make that extremely difficult. What tools are available to lead an organization that's obligated to more than the financial bottom line? Utilizing a sleek, condensed format, True to Yourself provides potent, practical advice for leaders looking to make their small business profitable and sustainable. Arguing that small-business leaders that look beyond the bottom-line are not only more fulfilled, but also more successful, author Mark Albion shows how by embodying competence, commitment, and compassion any small businessperson can lead more effectively. A series of five best practices forms the basis of a full plan to that shows readers how to bring the three C's to their business. Equally useful for those starting out or veterans of many years, True to Yourself reveals tried-and-true methods for keeping a values-based business on track.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 171 pages
• Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers (July 12, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1576753786
• ISBN-13: 978-1576753781
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #197,691 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing Grace, July 17, 2006

By	B. J. Hateley "entrepreneur and consultant" (Los Angeles, California) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Mark Albion writes with grace, passion, and purpose ... reminding us that we don't need to sell our souls for success nor abdicate our personal/spiritual values in order to make it in the harsh, competitive world of business. It really IS possible to do well by doing good ... and Mark's new book shows us how!

As I was reading "True to Yourself," snippets from some of my favorite songs danced through my head ..... "I Gotta be Me" and "I Did it My Way," among others. In business I have often felt like a peacock in the land of penguins, so the messages of "True to Yourself" resonated deep within me -- reassuring me that not only can I survive as an entrepreneur, I can THRIVE by being authentically myself and holding fast to the values and principles that are important to me.

Anyone who is feeling discouraged by the pressues of business and feeling like you're forced to compromise your ethics, values, and personal beliefs would find "True to Yourself" a breath of fresh air! It should be required reading for all students in Entrepreneur Programs in universities across the country -- beginning with Harvard.

Perhaps the Devil does wear Prada (or Armani) but YOU don't need to -- you can wear your Birkenstocks and build a thriving, successful business!

Mark Albion's new book builds on his previous best-seller and teaches us all how to make a living while building a wonder life!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Gift for Socially Responsible MBA's and Executives-actual and aspiriing, July 12, 2006

By	Jeff Hutner "cosmic connector" (Ojai, CA) - See all my reviews

True to Yourself: Leading a Values Based Business by Mark Albion
(Berrett-Koehler Publishers-Social Venture Network Series)

In a time when big business has shown its worst side and the general reputation of businessmen is on a par with lawyers in terms of mistrust, reading True to Yourself is like a fresh breeze blowing through a polluted fog. While its easy to point fingers and look at what's wrong which mainstream media does so well, its quite another thing to look at what's right with business and explore the leading edge of business practices based in the integration of head and heart.

Mark Albion was the Marketing Professor at Harvard for fifteen years and was dubbed by Business Week with "the savior of b-school souls." Mark was profiled on 60 Minutes and praised by leaders as diverse as Ronald Reagan and Mother Theresa. He has played business roles including employee, serial entrepreneur, consultant and most recently, the best-selling author of Making a Life, Making a Living and its newsletter read by thousands of subscribers in 87 countries. So Mark knows wherof he speaks. He helped form Students for Social Responsibility which has morphed into Net Imapct a vibrant organization of 7000+ socially responsible MBA's with 120 national chapters. He is a member of the Social Venture Network (svn.org), an organization of socially responsible entrepreneurs and philanthropists.

As Warren Buffet recently demonstrated, business is not all about greed. In fact, the tide is turning with the world's largest corporation, Wal-Mart recently hiring a CEO and empowering him to move the company as fast as possible towards becoming sustainable. Academic observers of the world of business have noted a strong correlation between financial performance and adoption of socially responsible business policies and practices.

True to Yourself is a timely gift to executives and students looking for a business compass that can lead them directly to a clearing where they can grow into true servant leaders who embrace and enjoy the many challenges and rewards of running a triple bottom line business that integrates and harmonizes people, planet and profits.

Mark worked with his dad in real estate for many years but knew he had to live his deeper values through business. After his 15 years at Harvard, he set out to become a values based entrepreneur who would use his life in service to social change through business. He moved towards being true to who he was and who he wanted to be and surrounded imself with other like minded entrepreneurs.

In his book, Mark shares practical strategies, programs and policies that work for values based businesses. A key piece of advice is that the only way to get ahead and feel good about it is to insure others do the same through forming and maintaning great relationships. That may sound easy but it's anything but and Mark shares his insights about decision making that affects not just shareholders but all stakeholders. It takes inclusive systems based thinking rather than an exclusive focus on one part like profits.

Fortunately for Mark, he found in the Social Venture Network which started a year after he left Harvard, a community of entrepreneurs with "many heads but one heart." More than anything else SVN provided its members with the ability to learn from each other how to "marry private gain and social good."

The book is the result of seventy five interviews with Mark's fellow SVN members representing both the for-profit and non-profit sectors as well as a diverse group of men and women members. The book covers the new values of transparancy, sustainability, and responsibility; the 3 C's-competence, compassion and commitment and the five most important leadership practices distilled from Mark's life and his interviews-turning values into value, walking toward the talk, communicating with care, facilitating personal growth and collaborating for greater impact.

Mark's mission with True to Yourself is to be a catalyst for the development of an army of values based leaders who will redefine capitalism as an ethical, noble, heroic, compassionate and peaceful activity of the heart and through that process transform the world. A lofty goal to be sure but one that is alive and well in the souls of rapidly increasing numbers of entrepreneurs like Mark and the members of SVN who share their hard won insights in this treasure of a book. If you want to do yourself, your business friends, the planet and future generations a very big favor, gift them a copy of this uplifting and empowering book. In this simple way, you can become part of the conscious evolution of business and our world.

You can read more about Mark and his other books as well as subscribing to his excellent newsletter at www.ml2.com

Jeff Hutner, co-founder and editor,
New Paradigm World (newparadigmworld.com)

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Easy read - great examples, August 12, 2006

By	Srikumar S. Rao (Commack, NY USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I know Mark Albion and admire what he has done. He was a professor at Harvard Business School and gave that up to devote himself to spreading the message that business is about more than financial metrics. He was instrumental in founding Net Impact and that organization has helped thousands of business school students recognize that there are businesses out there that are genuinely concerned with addressing societal concerns. He has been an entrepreneur and a cheer leader. He publishes a delightful newsletter called ML2 that is crammed full of absolutely delightful quotes. He has advised many very well known entrepreneurs and done a ton of other stuff besides.

This book is easy reading and much of what he extolls seems common sense. Who needs to be told about the necessity for transparency, sustainability and responsibility? However, it never hurts to be reminded of these important concepts that we tend to forget so soon.

The core of the book consists of five chapters where he talks about the important leadership practices of entrepreneurs who are doing things differently. And here is where his book suffers from a flaw that most books of this type share. For example, one of the practices is to "communicate with care". He gives you questions to ask yourself to figure out if you if you are a good communicator and to improve your communication skills. Questions such as "Do you know how your employees like to receive different types of messages?" and "Are you clear and consistent?"

However, he does not tell you how to find out how your employees want to receive messages or how to figure out if employees think you are clear and consistent. So quite a bit of what he says seems important, but does not leave you better equipped to actually do it.

Despite this, I have given the book five stars because it has one overwhelming virtue. There are dozens of examples of great companies and wonderful entrepreneurs who are making the world of business a better place. I fully expect that I will reach out to many of them and engage in multiple transactions with them. And that, by itself, makes this book a "must get".