The Enlightened Capitalists: Cautionary Tales of Business Pioneers Who Tried to Do Well by Doing Good

O’Toole (Creating the Good Life) makes a meticulous and captivating study of business leaders throughout history who, having succeeded at business, attempted to do good, ruefully concluding not many could juggle both long-term. Some prevailed for a time, such as Robert Owen, who transmuted the Dickensian horrors of Great Britain’s industrial revolution into a model workplace while generating record profits in his textile mills. Owen reduced hours, guaranteed employment, provided medical care and pensions, ensured workplace safety, and offered schooling. While Owen’s achievement was remarkable, it was never duplicated, and he later lost his fortune attempting to build a utopian commune. More recently, Gravity Payments CEO Dan Price found himself reviled by his peers and even criticized by his employees after he cut his own salary and raised every worker’s minimum pay to $70,000 per year in 2015 (some workers felt it was unfair that less-experienced colleagues received pay increases). O’Toole is an enthusiastic and heartfelt advocate of corporate virtue, but, he concludes, “the practices of investor capitalism... threaten the cultures of enlightened companies.” He sees potential solutions in private and founder ownership of companies—to prevent shareholders from “excising” beneficial practices—and consumer pressure on businesses to address social issues. This comprehensive and thoughtful study of the often troubled relationship between business and benevolence will provide readers unexpected food for thought. Agent: James Levine, Levine Greenberg Rostan Literary Agency. (Feb.)