Flourishing Enterprise
Flourishing Enterprise

Author: Chris Laszlo

Publisher: Stanford University Press

Published: 2014-08-27

Total Pages: 236

ISBN-13: 0804793506

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The notion of responsible business has infiltrated our markets, and "going green" is now a part of our mindset. But, sustainability as we know it is not enough. Flourishing—the aspiration that humans and life in general will thrive on the planet forever—should be a key goal for every business today. This is a bold concept, like sustainability was a decade ago. Just as sustainability has become a matter of course, so too will flourishing become a cornerstone of business tomorrow. How are companies to attain this big-picture goal? Drawing together decades of research along with in-depth interviews, Flourishing Enterprise argues that many strategic, organizational, and operational efforts to be sustainable reach the potential of flourishing when they incorporate one additional ingredient: reflective practices. Offering more than a dozen such practices, this book leads readers down a path to greater business success, personal well-being, and a healthier planet. Readers will find that adding reflective practices to existing business efforts does not require more work; it simply changes the way we do our work and, more importantly, the results we achieve. Cultivating emotional and spiritual health is the next frontier; this future-oriented guide develops these core competencies while stretching the ongoing conversation about profitable, sustainable business.

Flourishing
Flourishing

Author: Andrew J. Hoffman

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-09-08

Total Pages: 161

ISBN-13: 1351277227

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This astonishing book invites you into a conversation between a teacher, John R. Ehrenfeld, and his former student now professor, Andrew J. Hoffman, as they discuss how to create a sustainable world. Unlike virtually all other books about sustainability, this one goes beyond the typical stories that we tell ourselves about repairing the environmental damages of human progress. Through their dialogue and essays that open each section, the authors uncover two core facets of our culture that drive the unsustainable, unsatisfying, and unfair social and economic machines that dominate our lives. First, our collective model of the way the world works cannot cope with the inherent complexity of today's highly connected, high-speed reality. Second, our understanding of human behavior is rooted in this outdated model. Driven by the old guard, sustainability has become little more than a fashionable idea. As a result, both business and government are following the wrong path – at best applying temporary, less unsustainable solutions that will fail to leave future generations in better shape. To shift the pendulum, this book tells a new story, driven by being and caring, as opposed to having and needing, rooted in the beauty of complexity and arguing for the transformative cultural shift that we can make based on our collective wisdom and lived experiences. Then, the authors sketch out the road to a flourishing future, a change in our consumption and a new approach to understanding and acting. There is no middle ground; without serious change at the most basic level, we will continue to head down a false path. Indeed, this book is a clarion call to action. Candid and insightful, it leaves readers with cautious hope.

Mass Flourishing
Mass Flourishing

Author: Edmund S. Phelps

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2013-08-19

Total Pages: 393

ISBN-13: 1400848296

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In this book, Nobel Prize-winning economist Edmund Phelps draws on a lifetime of thinking to make a sweeping new argument about what makes nations prosper--and why the sources of that prosperity are under threat today. Why did prosperity explode in some nations between the 1820s and 1960s, creating not just unprecedented material wealth but "flourishing"--meaningful work, self-expression, and personal growth for more people than ever before? Phelps makes the case that the wellspring of this flourishing was modern values such as the desire to create, explore, and meet challenges. These values fueled the grassroots dynamism that was necessary for widespread, indigenous innovation. Most innovation wasn't driven by a few isolated visionaries like Henry Ford and Steve Jobs; rather, it was driven by millions of people empowered to think of, develop, and market innumerable new products and processes, and improvements to existing ones. Mass flourishing--a combination of material well-being and the "good life" in a broader sense--was created by this mass innovation. Yet indigenous innovation and flourishing weakened decades ago. In America, evidence indicates that innovation and job satisfaction have decreased since the late 1960s, while postwar Europe has never recaptured its former dynamism. The reason, Phelps argues, is that the modern values underlying the modern economy are under threat by a resurgence of traditional, corporatist values that put the community and state over the individual. The ultimate fate of modern values is now the most pressing question for the West: will Western nations recommit themselves to modernity, grassroots dynamism, indigenous innovation, and widespread personal fulfillment, or will we go on with a narrowed innovation that limits flourishing to a few? A book of immense practical and intellectual importance, Mass Flourishing is essential reading for anyone who cares about the sources of prosperity and the future of the West.

Human Flourishing
Human Flourishing

Author: Andrew Briggs

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2021-10-18

Total Pages: 304

ISBN-13: 0192590855

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

'A careful and thoughtful provocation' (Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury) Ambitiously placed at the intersection of scientific insights and spiritual wisdom, Human Flourishing prompts us to reflect on what constitutes a good life and the choices that can help achieve it. For thousands of years, humans have asked 'Why we are here?' and 'What makes for a good life?' At different times, different answers have held sway. Nowadays, there are more answers proposed than ever. Much of humanity still finds the ultimate answers to such questions in religion. But in countries across the globe, secular views are widely held. In any event, whether religious or secular, individuals, communities and governments still have to make decisions about what people get from life. This book therefore examines what is meant by human flourishing and see what it has to offer for those seeking after truth, meaning and purpose. This is a book written for anyone who wants a future for themselves, their children, and their fellow humans - a future that enables flourishing, pays due consideration to issues of truth and helps us find meaning and purpose in our lives. At a time when most of us are bombarded with messages about what we should or should not do to live healthily, attain a work-life balance and find meaning, a careful consideration of the contributions of both scientific insight and spiritual wisdom provides a new angle. This is therefore a book that not only helps readers clarify their views and see things afresh but also help them improve their own well-being in an age of AI and other new technologies.

Entrepreneurship for Human Flourishing
Entrepreneurship for Human Flourishing

Author: Chris Horst

Publisher: A E I Press

Published: 2014

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780844772677

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Business is often an afterthought in the fight against poverty. But, in Entrepreneurship for Human Flourishing, Chris Horst and Peter Greer argue that free enterprise and entrepreneurship are integral to advancing human flourishing around the world. Rightly understood, business--in all its various sizes and forms--is a sacred calling with a vital role in enabling individuals to experience true well-being.

Resilient by Design
Resilient by Design

Author: Joseph Fiksel

Publisher: Island Press

Published: 2015-10-22

Total Pages: 258

ISBN-13: 1610915879

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

"Resilient by design provides managers with a more complete approach to creating lasting success in a changing world. Rich with examples and case studies, it explains how to connect the external systems, stakeholders, communities, infrastructure, supply chains, and natural resources, to create innovative organisations that survive and prosper." --Publisher description.

The Right Way to Flourish
The Right Way to Flourish

Author: John Ehrenfeld

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2019-10-08

Total Pages: 264

ISBN-13: 100001164X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In this ground-breaking book, pre-eminent thought leader in the fields of sustainability and flourishing, John R. Ehrenfeld, critiques the concept of sustainability as it is understood today and which is coming more and more under attack as unclear and ineffective as a call for action. Building upon the recent work of cognitive scientist, Iain McGilchrist, who argues that the human brain’s two hemispheres present distinct different worlds, this book articulates how society must replace the current foundational left-brain-based beliefs – a mechanistic world and a human driven by self interest – with new ones based on complexity and care. Flourishing should replace the lifeless metrics now being used to guide business and government, as well as individuals. Until we accept that our modern belief structure is, itself, the barrier, we will continue to be mired in an endless succession of unsolved problems.

Economic Freedom and Human Flourishing
Economic Freedom and Human Flourishing

Author: Michael R. Strain

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2016-09-15

Total Pages: 164

ISBN-13: 0844750034

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Is economic liberty necessary for individuals to lead truly flourishing lives? Whether your immediate answer is yes or no, this question is deceptively simple. What do we mean by liberty? What constitutes the flourishing life? How are these related? How is economic liberty related to other goods that affect human flourishing? To answer these questions—and more—this volume brings to bear some of history’s greatest thinkers, interpreted by some of today’s leading scholars of their thought.

Mathematics for Human Flourishing
Mathematics for Human Flourishing

Author: Francis Su

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 2020-01-07

Total Pages: 287

ISBN-13: 0300237138

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

"The ancient Greeks argued that the best life was filled with beauty, truth, justice, play and love. The mathematician Francis Su knows just where to find them."--Kevin Hartnett, Quanta Magazine" This is perhaps the most important mathematics book of our time. Francis Su shows mathematics is an experience of the mind and, most important, of the heart."--James Tanton, Global Math Project For mathematician Francis Su, a society without mathematical affection is like a city without concerts, parks, or museums. To miss out on mathematics is to live without experiencing some of humanity's most beautiful ideas. In this profound book, written for a wide audience but especially for those disenchanted by their past experiences, an award-winning mathematician and educator weaves parables, puzzles, and personal reflections to show how mathematics meets basic human desires--such as for play, beauty, freedom, justice, and love--and cultivates virtues essential for human flourishing. These desires and virtues, and the stories told here, reveal how mathematics is intimately tied to being human. Some lessons emerge from those who have struggled, including philosopher Simone Weil, whose own mathematical contributions were overshadowed by her brother's, and Christopher Jackson, who discovered mathematics as an inmate in a federal prison. Christopher's letters to the author appear throughout the book and show how this intellectual pursuit can--and must--be open to all.