Book Review: Saving the Corporate Soul
Every day, we are inundated with business news about the latest corporation guilty of financial misconduct or deception. Insider trading, fraudulent accounting practices, and huge executive compensation plans, along with a steady stream of financial scandals has rocked corporate America over the last several years. Many Americans believes that business executives do very poorly when it comes to ethics. Worse yet, many people believe that their lack of integrity contributes to a deterioration of the moral fabric of society in general. David Batstone argues in Saving the Corporate Soul that America's corporate crisis is as much spiritual as it is financial. His book recommends a series of corporate reforms that mirror those advocated by the corporate social responsibility, and socially responsible investment lobbies.
There are many ways to try to describe this book. One of the most succinct is: This is a book about values. Batstone explains how to adopt each principle in stages and provides practical guidelines for moving forward. He bases this book on the premise that there is such a thing as a corporate soul. He argues that it is not necessary to sacrifice one's soul while building corporate and personal success. The book refutes the idea that doing business in a way that is considerate, ethical and responsible means sacrificing profitability. Looking past the book's call for the acknowledgement of a spiritual underpinning to corporate activity, the eight principles and their corollaries still function as a pragmatic blueprint for corporate reform.
In the post-Enron era, corporate culture seems devoid of a moral compass. Batstone concisely organizes his principles, laying out a variety of predicaments that companies face. He proposes alternatives that promise to win supporters rather than generate enemies and mass resignations among valued employees. His principles include c...