Firms of Endearment How World-class Companies Profit from Passion and Purpose

Love, Joy, Authenticity, and Soul: Building Winning Businesses in the New Age of Transcendence - Why today's most humane companies are blowing away the S&P 500 averages - Increasing "share of heart" delivering the emotional, experiential, and social value your stakeholders are demanding - 30 powerful case studies, including CarMax(R), Timberland(TM), Jordan's Furniture, Trader Joe's, Wegmans, and Toyota(TM) Today's best companies "get it," From Costco(R) to Commerce Bank, Wegmans to Whole Foods(R) they're becoming the ultimate value creators. They're generating "every" form of value that matters: "emotional, experiential, social, and financial," And they're doing it for "all" their stakeholders. Not because it's "politically correct" "because it's the only path to long-term competitive advantage," These are the "Firms of Endearment,"Companies people "love" doing business with. "Love" partnering with. "Love" working for. "Love" investing in. Companies for whom "loyalty" isn't just real: it's palpable, and driving unbeatable advantages in everything from marketing to recruitment. You need to become one of those companies. This book will show you how. You'll find specific, practical guidance on transforming every relationship you have: with customers, associates, partners, investors, and society. If you want to be great-"truly" great-"this" is your blueprint. We're entering an Age of Transcendence, as people increasingly search for higher meaning in their lives, not just more possessions. This is transforming the marketplace, the workplace, the very soul of capitalism. Increasingly, today's most successful companies are bringing love, joy, authenticity, empathy, and soulfulness into theirbusinesses: they are delivering emotional, experiential, and social value--not just profits. "Firms of Endearment" illuminates this, the most fundamental transformation in capitalism since Adam Smith. It's not about "corporate social responsibility" it's about building companies that can sustain success in a radically new era. It's about great companies like IDEO andIKEA(R), Commerce Bank and Costco(R), Wegmans and Whole Foods(R) how they earn the powerful loyalty and affection that enables truly breathtaking performance. This book is about gaining "share of heart," not just share of wallet. It's about aligning stakeholders' interests, not just juggling them. It's about building companies that leave the world a better place. Most of all, it's about why you "must" do all this, or risk being left in the dust... and "how to get there" from wherever you are now. Foreword xv Prologue A Whole New World xxi Chapter 1 It's Not Share of Wallet Anymore; It's Share of Heart 1 Chapter 2 New Age, New Rules, New Capitalism 23 Chapter 3 The Chaotic Interregnum 49 Chapter 4 Employees--The Decline and Fall of Human Resources 65Chapter 5 Customers--The Power of Love 97 Chapter 6 Investors--Reaping What FoEs Sow 125 Chapter 7 Partners--Elegant Harmonies 145 Chapter 8 Society--The Ultimate Stakeholder 171 Chapter 9 Culture--The Secret Ingredient 197 Chapter 10 Lessons Learned 235 Chapter 11 Crossing Over to the Other Side 253 Acknowledgments 273Sisodia, Rajendra S. is the author of 'Firms of Endearment How World-class Companies Profit from Passion and Purpose', published 2007 under ISBN 9780131873728 and ISBN 0131873725.