Far too many Americans, writes Bostock, are stuck in \u201ca toxic day-to-day grind that leaves them drained and purposeless.\u201d Since the 1970s, corporate America, per the author, has embraced a ruthless approach to profit (epitomized by Milton Friedman\u2019s signature essay, \u201cThe Social Responsibility of Business Is To Increase Its Profits\u201d) that has \u201cled to a decline in the quality of life for both workers and consumers.\u201d Drawing on his own experiences as the CEO of SnapCab (a multimillion-dollar manufacturing company he founded), Bostock offers a countercultural paradigm for the corporate sector that prioritizes the humanity of employees and consumers. Centered around five principles, each with its own dedicated chapter-length analysis, the titular \u201cHuman Business\u201d model starts with creating a \u201cFoundation of Caring\u201d that fosters a kind, safe, and supportive workplace environment. From there, businesses should focus on their \u201cRuling Love\u201d (energizing workers and management behind a united cause) and provide opportunities for employees to feel \u201cUseful\u201d (rather than simply completing seemingly meaningless tasks because they were told to). Finally, businesses should \u201cEmbrace Problems and Weaknesses\u201d as opportunities to improve rather than as excuses to cast blame as they model themselves after the \u201cHuman Form\u201d (in which every part of the human body, or its analog in the workplace, has a distinctive but equally important role to play). Interspersed throughout the advice to businessowners and managers are memoir-like anecdotes in which Bostock discusses overcoming childhood shame associated with dyslexia or leveraging his love for installing high-end cabinetry to establish a thriving elevator cab business (after all, he writes, \u201can elevator interior was basically an inside-out cabinet\u201d). Written in a down-to-earth style that reflects the author\u2019s desire to break down boundaries between owners and employees, the book makes a convincing case for reevaluating definitions of corporate success.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Far too many Americans, writes Bostock, are stuck in \u201ca toxic day-to-day grind that leaves them drained and purposeless.\u201d Since the 1970s, corporate America, per the author, has embraced a ruthless approach to profit (epitomized by Milton Friedman\u2019s signature essay, \u201cThe Social Responsibility of Business Is To Increase Its Profits\u201d) that has \u201cled to a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":6603,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6602"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6602"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6602\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6603"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}