Kind Business

Imagine a corporate world where people and planet are at the heart of leadership decisions and businesses can still find long-term profitability and improved shareholder returns. In ‘Kind Business’ Dr David Cooke shows us that world.

Kind Business is divided into three parts.

Part 1 looks at traditional business where business behaving badly is highlighted with short-term profit seeking dominating decision making with little regard for negative impacts. These are the decisions that often result in reputational damage, corporate scandals, loss of shareholder value and discredited corporate leaders.

The disappointing attitudes and negative impacts of many of todays businesses in areas such as climate change, loss of biodiversity and disregard for human rights are all analysed. David uses examples from global historical occurrences through to todays Australian business landscape, including scandals and poor decision making at General Motors, VW, Enron, Rio Tinto, Qantas, PwC and Optus. The phenomenon of greenwashing, the rise of shareholder activism and the role of whistle blowers in exposing poor practices are all examined.

In part 2 David introduces the concept of Kind Business, where the corporate world is reimagined as a place where leaders with courage and high emotional intelligence, ones who understand the interconnectedness of all stakeholders, make decisions based around their customers and the planet. Global and Australian companies and leaders who are advocating for change and championing a new way of doing business are highlighted.

And lastly, in part 3, David provides a case study of an Australian tech-sector organisation that highlights evidence of the power of the philosophy of profit and purpose nourishing each other to show that when a business does good then that business will do well and that values create value.