26th book of 2020.
A book of stories with few answers. Each chapter tells the story of a different executive who found ways to make their company moral as well as profitable. In most cases they failed, in a few (and only the ones that didn’t go public) they were able to build a lasting institution.
O’Toole gives a quick summary of the company, what made them successful, how they were enlightened and what happened after the founder disengaged. In the depressing majority of cases, the companies reverted back to bread and butter capitalism, but there seem to be a few, such as Lincoln electric and Johnson and Johnson that found an enduring corporate culture beyond shareholder value.
I wish there was more framing of the issues, the chronological order seemed to tell the story of society’s attitudes towards business rather than ways in which enlightened capitalism could play out. The last few chapters synthesizing the stories are quite flimsy, the author spends more time complaining about big tech (which was unfortunately missed in all of the case studies) than picking apart the patterns that worked and those that didn’t.
4 stars for the topic, 2 stars for the execution.
Raw notes: ~Lincoln Electric ~Johnson & Johnson corporate culture ~don’t go public if you want to benefit somebody other than shareholders, due to the regulatory underpinnings