I purchased "Conscious Capitalism," because I was under the impression this book would provide knowledge and information about finance, business and capitalism. Instead, this book is filled with pseudo-spiritual principles that have absolutely, positively nothing to do with business whatsoever. I have a graduate degree and I am half-way through a MBA Program and this book is completely asinine. There is no way that John Mackey or Raj Sisodia actually wrote this book. This is not even well-written. The tone and voice comes across as self-righteous. As a reader I felt like I was being lectured, instead of exposing my mind to transformational knowledge.
Reading about spiritualism in this book was a complete turn-off. We are spiritual beings having a human experience. I wish people would stop advising others to "raise their consciousness." No man can wake-up one day and decide to "raise his consciousness." That is a natural process that takes place and changes one from within. The narrator's voice came across as "holier-than-thou." I live in America and the The United States is not a country that embraces an individual's spiritual needs.
"...few people knew much or cared about environmental issues," (Mackey, Sisodia, 2014) indigenous people such as Native Americans have always cared about the environment and the planet.
"What people want in life is to be recognized, to grow and to have made a difference," (Mackey, Sisodia, 2014). The authors should speak for themselves they have no way of knowing what other people want out of life. These are not my goals in life.
"However, when any profession becomes primarily about making money, it starts to lose its true identity and its interests start to diverge from what is good for society as a whole," (Mackey, Sisodia, 2014). Have these men been living under a rock or something? This statement perfectly describes how American Business is conducted today. I love how entrepreneurs become millionaires and tell other people not to focus on money.
On page 54 of the book the authors discuss how employees only care about a paycheck. Of course people care about a paycheck because that is what they have been led to believe. Throughout the course of one's life this is heard: "Graduate high school, go to college and graduate, land a good job and make money and you are set for the rest of your life." Not to mention nowadays people dedicate 40-plus hours to their job. A person has to get up to get ready for work, commute to work and work all day long. God-forbid if a person has to run errands after work. A person's entire life now centers on working at a company. That is not living and enjoying life in my humble opinion.
The authors really are not a big fan of Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric.
I did manage to find one great quote in this book, "Leadership and management are not synonymous. Leadership is mostly about change and transformation. Management is about efficiency and implementation," (Mackey, Sisodia, 2014).
This book dragged and it contained entirely too much unnecessary information. This book could have easily been cut in half had it not included so much information that was not pertinent to the subject matter of conscious capitalism. The beginning half of chapter 7 is interesting because it focuses on business matters.
I cannot recommend "Conscious Capitalism," to other readers. Normally, if a book is a dull read, I would advise other readers to check out the book at a library, borrow the book, purchase it dirt cheap at a yard sale or flea market. Please do not waste your time reading, "Conscious Capitalism." This strikes me as a book that was slapped together just to generate revenue through sales.
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