We are excited to announce that a second edition of our business ethics book will launch this spring under the new title, “Profit with a Higher Purpose”.
Here is a sneak peak of the brand new cover design.
We are aiming for an Easter release. Stay tuned for further announcements!
Peet van Biljon and James C Sprouse
Foreword to the Second Edition
Each of us has our own God-given purpose. If we live out this purpose in our work lives and work hard to do the right thing every day, it will not only add up across the entire economy, but powerful network effects will come into play, reinforcing and accelerating our individual efforts for the greater good. This is because people who see us will act on our good example, and yet more others will act on their example, and so on. The metaphor that Jesus used in his day was that of yeast: “And again he said, ‘To what should I compare the kingdom of God? It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.’” (Luke 13:20-21)
The first edition of this book was published in 2016 under the title “Business Ethics for Executives – a Christian Decision Guide”. The book had a warm reception from most everyone who read it. However, we realized after a while that the original title was limiting our potential readership to those interested in the rather narrow genre of business-ethics books. While the book indeed covers business ethics quite extensively, it is more than another ethics book. It is a book advocating ethical business leadership based on time-tested Judeo-Christian principles. In the pages that follow we challenge business leaders – especially those of faith – to embark on a journey of personal and professional growth. That makes it a leadership and personal growth book, maybe even more so than an ethics book.
In this second edition we have added references to some of the latest ethics-related news stories, as well as to noteworthy new research on economic topics like executive compensation and the impact of automation.
We hope and pray that this book will help our readers align their daily business decisions more closely with their faith and thereby contribute to a transformation of the business world into one that is more people-centric than profit-centric. After publishing the first edition, we were greatly encouraged by meeting so many people of faith in the business world who already share this purpose and live it every day. If you are one of them, we hope this book will be a resource for you as we travel the road together, following in the Way of Jesus. And if you are new to this journey, you should know that you will not be alone and that there are many others who will walk with you. We invite you to join us!
The authors, March 2017
If you want to know more about our aspiration for this work, please have a look at the interview we did before the first edition was published.