DEEPLY RESPONSIBLE BUSINESS. A Global History of Values-Driven Leadership

Corporate social responsibility has entered the mainstream, but what does it take to run a successful purpose-driven business? A Harvard Business School professor examines leaders who put values alongside profits to showcase the challenges and upside of deeply responsible business.

Should business leaders play a role in solving society's problems? For decades, CEOs have been told that their only responsibility is to the bottom line. But consensus is growing that companies—and their leaders—must engage with their social, political, and environmental contexts. Geoffrey Jones distinguishes deep responsibility, which can deliver radical social and ecological responses, from corporate social responsibility, which is often little more than window dressing.
Deeply Responsible Business provides a historical perspective on the social responsibility of business, going back to the Quaker capitalism of George Cadbury and the worker solidarity of Edward Filene and carrying us through to impact investing and the B-corps. Jones profiles exemplary business leaders from around the world who combined profits with social purpose to confront inequality, inner-city blight, and ecological degradation, while navigating restrictive laws and authoritarian regimes.
The business leaders profiled in this book were motivated by bedrock values and sometimes driven by faith. They chose to operate in socially productive fields, interacted with humility with stakeholders, and felt a duty to support their communities. While far from perfect, each one showed that profit and purpose could be reconciled. Many of their businesses were wildly successful—though financial success was not their only metric of achievement.
As many companies seek to coopt more ethically sensitized consumers, Jones gives us a new perspective to tackle tough questions and envisions a future in which companies and entrepreneurs can play a key role in healing our communities and protecting the natural world.
GEOFFREY JONES is Isidor Straus Professor of Business History at Harvard Business School and a Fellow of the Academy of International Business. His recent books include Beauty Imagined: A History of the Global Beauty Industry and Profits and Sustainability: A History of Green Entrepreneurship.