“Buddhism in business, yeah right,” I thought when a friend handed me Business and the Buddha. It just seemed like too much of a stretch to apply one in the other. I stand corrected.
Lloyd Field makes a convincing argument for applying the principles of Buddhism in capitalist business. In the process, he outlines an alternative path to a sustainable economy, one that is infused with a holistic approach and that “incorporates human values without losing the benefits of a free-market economy”.
This is biz lit with a spiritual spin, what with one middle way, two goals (”cause no harm” and “create a better society”), three poisons, four noble truths, or eight guiding principles. Reworded, the Buddhism-based business model, too, seems vaguely familiar to a Western business person: describe symptoms, identify causes, define goals, and chart the strategy.
In my reading experience, most if not all books could be edited down to two-thirds or more without harming the content. Business and the Buddha is no different; in fact, it gets wordy, ranty, and repetitive in many places. With that in mind, every conscious capitalist would benefit from reading it, if only to get a different perspective on her core beliefs and values.
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Lloyd Field, Business and the Buddha: Doing Well by Doing Good, Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2007.
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