When it comes to business, everyone wants to do well. But can we do good at the same time? Lloyd Field (and, indeed the Dalai Lama, who provides the foreword here) says, unequivocally, Yes. Field's Business and the Buddha lays out the guidelines for putting ideas about individual and corporate social responsibility into practice without sacrificing the bottom line.
No longer can business - big or small - afford to focus solely on profit. Real assessment of a business's worth must take into account its consideration of our shared human values, and the realities of our shared planet. That doesn't mean a business can't or shouldn't compete; it means that investing in efforts to build a better society can be, on many levels, an asset.
Drawing in a substantial and sophisticated way on traditional Buddhist teachings, Lloyd Field shows how decision-makers and entrepreneurs can achieve new levels of happiness and security both inside and outside the company, and take a power-position as a force for positive global change.
"Lloyd Field wrote Business and the Buddha because he believes free enterprise has contributed to many of society's ills, such as war, poverty, and disease. But free enterprise, or capitalism, does not need to be viewed as problematic, for it can be a vehicle for resolving human suffering. Field [explains how] leaders can change organizations for the better and improve the day-to-day lives, creating good in the world while still making a reasonable profit."