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ROBERT REICH
is one smart guy, and I deeply respect the fact that he appears to actually understand how the economy works.
So I noticed his recent article titled “The Rebirth of Stakeholder Capitalism“.
He makes a powerful distinction between Shareholder Capitalism and Stakeholder Capitalism. The former structures a business to benefit only the shareholders, while the latter incorporates other beneficiaries: customers, employees, and communities.
LAST WEEK 
I talked about how a sense of purpose is so much more than just what makes you happy.
But if you think about it, purpose can be an extremely self-centered thing. If you follow the direction of a higher power, then it’s going to be different.
Do you believe you’ve been given a mission from God? Do you believe that His direction is more important than your own wishes?
And what does this have to do with your business?
LAST FRIDAY 
WE HAD AN INTERESTING DISCUSSION over lunch, about the value of identifying your brand with your own name. It’s a conundrum, so I thought I could throw it out for a larger audience.
Here’s a range of examples:
- Joe’s hot dogs
- Smith investment strategies
- Fred and Wilma accounting services
- The Jones consulting group
- Marvin Winklestein and sons
ASPEN INSTITUTE just came out with a new report entitled Unpacking Corporate Purpose: A Report on the Beliefs of Executives, Investors and Scholars. It’s an interesting read, especially for those who are thinking about how investors change the landscape of their company’s purpose.
For me, the most thought-provoking idea was that there are distinctly different philosophies about the concept of a corporation – and they’re all valid.
You’d think that traditional wisdom holds that the purpose of a corporation is to serve its shareholders. But is it? Read the rest of this entry »
MOST COACHES I’ve met entered this field because they have a deep and abiding passion for helping others to succeed. Often this is based on a deep appreciation for the support that they’ve received from others during their lifetime.
Then you start a coaching business.
This can be a startling experience for new coaches, because you quickly find that your job is now marketing and sales. If people don’t know about you and the value coaching can provide, they won’t hire you. And you got into this profession because you wanted to help people.
Coaching and marketing are different skills, and you need to master both.
F
IRMS OF ENDEARMENT: How World-Class Companies Profit from Passion and Purpose is an excellent book, supporting the idea that companies are more successful when they form positive emotional bonds with employees, customers, and investors. I’ve been reading it recently in preparation for leading the Entreprenerds discussion on April 18th, “Business for the 21st Century”.
I’ve learned a lot from this, and it’s been useful for my own coaching business.
By definition, the owner of a values-based business is focused on “doing something important.” But there’s always the question of whether he or she will be rewarded by also having a profitable and sustainable business.
DURING THIS SEASON OF LENT we have a great opportunity to step back and work a bit more on the big picture. I’m not talking about business planning, or even visioning and direction-setting.
It’s more about recognizing the hard work ahead.
How do you take advantage of Lent at the personal level? Many will use it as a time of introspection and spiritual development. Giving up chocolate or coffee might help you do that, but Lent isn’t about denying yourself pleasures and “feeling bad” now so you’ll “feel better” at Easter.
In the previous issue, I talked about how we as coaches can help our clients build deep values into a business. In this context “deep values” refer to those motivations that are more important than just making money and delivering products or services.
I find that many coaches are seeking to build just this kind of businesses: one founded upon and expressing deep values. As a Christian coach, it’s likely that you want to include your own faith as part of the foundation of your coaching practice.
Do you want your coaching to make a difference in the world? Here’s a game plan for making that happen.
GOALS AND VALUES can be tough to deal with. Their very nature makes them hard or impossible to attain, especially on a consistent basis. And when you have idealistic values as the foundation of your business, it’s possible to feel that your foundation is shaken when you’re unable to hit those high ideals.
For whatever reason, we humans tend to focus on failure more than success. And we tend to be most critical of ourselves.
I was pondering this morning how close we are to eradicating Polio from the planet. It’s an astounding goal, actually, because we rarely get to declare a 100% victory on anything. Read the rest of this entry »
TAMARA KLEINBERG heads up a fascinating company named the Shuuk – THE testing ground for the world’s coolest, newest ideas. 
Just so you aren’t confused, the Hebrew word shuuk describes a community marketplace, with all the vitality and energy that you’d expect.
Tamara is helping inventors and innovators by giving them a marketplace for their new products.
It’s kind of a proving ground, a test market, for all those new products which have no good way to get to a broad market. And that’s a valued assistance for someone who has a great idea, but struggles to develop a distribution channel and marketing strategy.
The Values-Based Business 