In a straightforward yet sophisticated style, Cooke presents numerous examples in recent business history that show how many shortsighted, profit-first decisions ultimately turned out badly, especially when executive pay is tied to short-term results. One target is Jack Welch, former Chief Executive Officer of General Electric. Welch’s laser-like focus on the bottom line and GE’s share price made shareholders wealthy, Cooke notes, but also destroyed many lives and communities in the process. Cooke laments that such exploitative playbooks have proliferated, despite global exploitation, evidence of climate change, and products that threaten privacy or clearly damage consumers’ health and well being. He urges those in the corner office to regularly get out from behind their desk and walk the factory floor, talk with employees, customers and suppliers. Similarly, he calls on consumers and investors to take responsibility, i.e., support responsible companies, conserve energy, reduce consumption and waste, and teach subsequent generations to do the same.

Cooke is attentive to business language and culture, and he strives to exorcise the business-as-battleground analogies that have long been commonplace. That mindset, he suggests, sets every promotion-eyed manager on a collision course with what’s generally considered good and moral, like providing sensible worker benefits, respecting the environment, and helping one’s community. Clear takeaways and much actionable advice make this call of courageous, ethical leadership also a practical guide to changemaking.

Takeaway: Rousing call for business leadership that places values before short-term profits.

Comparable Titles: Neil Malhotra and Ken Shotts’s Leading with Values, Daniel Aronson’s The Value of Values.

Production grades
Cover: A-
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A