Growing a Business

I've had a chance to revisit growing a business recently, after about 15 years since the first time I read it, and it is as timely and important now as it was then. I teach entrepreneurship and do private-sector seminars as well, and in that role I find myself recommending this book repeatedly. If what you want is your own business, doing something you like, then even if you read nothing else about business, read this book. Actually though, you shouldn't read nothing else about business. Read Guy Kawasaki's "The Art of the Start" as well, and, ok, then you're done. Sorry, I digress. I founded and still run a company that now has 35 employees and market leadership in its segment. I've bought several copies of this book to share with my employees. It's a reminder of core values, and core values are important. What Hawken does better than other business books is focus on the core values that make a start-up work, not business theory but caring about what you do, building the business by offering value to people and believing in what you do. The simplest example is the story of Ben and Jerry's ice cream, which started out as two guys in a single store who loved ice cream and wanted to share. A lot of this book is stories of successes, like Ben and Jerry's, with a focus on how and why. It's a very easy read, fun, and valuable. Hawken focuses on the core: the why of business, more than the how.

I read this book and watched the TV series around 1990. I credit Growing a Business, as much as anything I ever read or heard, for the success of my company today. In 1992 a group of first-time entrepreneurs started a company together. Some of the group had a blueprint of how a company is supposed to start. Get capital. Build something. Launch it. Succeed. They had not read the book, or they had but did not believe it spoke to us. Some of the group had a more organic idea, inspired in part by this book. Each company has its pace, its flow, its learning curve. The CEO is the clock, the pacer, the navigator. There is a constant calculator going on each decision, each day, extrapolating payoffs, comparing the costs and benefits. And there is a recognition of what we are going into business for and structuring the business to support those objectives. For example, we wanted a great place for employees. Each employee would share the experience and benefits. The "Startup 101" types of books treat this topic as an add-on after you do all the important things. Hawken makes it primary. It is primary if you want a place for the best people to do their best work. Structure your company around the employee experience and all else falls into place - if that is the kind of company you want. An important lesson from this book is serious initial capital for inexperienced entrepeneurs can be a mistake. Hawken describes this. So important. So easy to overlook. Large amounts of startup capital allows you to outsource parts of a company you may not totally understand yet. It makes some mistakes very expensive. It dulls the creativity at times, the innovation to do more with less. It might encourage one to do things just because you see other companies doing them. It tempts you to make large steps, when it is critical in modern markets to learn to make many smaller steps. And so on. This book may not fit every entrepreneur. It certainly does not provide all the information you need for growing a company. But for some of us it describes a pattern for growing a good company. If you are thinking about starting a company, or are in the early stages of a startup, I recommend this book. It might change how you do things, and you might get more satisfaction from the adventure as a result.

Some good advice in here, but a lot of boilerplate as well: "Respect your customers, conduct yourself with honesty", might as well tell me to tie my own shoelaces. Lots of lame common sense stuff like that that would be in the course you take *before* the 101 course. Not a bad book, it'll get you thinking about your business. Just don't expect to be blown away. Lot of "meh" sections that'll make you ready for nap time. It's referred to as a business "classic" on the cover. TRUST me when I say it is far from it.

This book is 100% down to earth business know-how. No fillers here. This is a must have if you are starting your own business. You can even search Paul's company which it is still in business after 30 years since he published his book. This book is all principals, not temporary sounds to good to be true ideas. This is a book that your children and their children will find useful because it is full of business common sense. This is not your flight by night hot shot CEO story that Fortune complements one year and next year he/she is getting fired for not making sound common sense decisions. They should also fire the board since they approved the senseless things the CEO did in the first place.

Amazing content and helpful, I purchased this for my class at Maharishi International Uni! Learning a lot!

Different things strike different people. This is the most referenced and referred to book on business I have ever bought. There's a part where Mr. Hawken indicates he never hires experts as those experts cannot be trusted to admit mistakes and are generally inflexible precisely because they are brought in as experts has been exactly my observation. That alone was worth the price of this stellar book.

A great read for those thinking of going into business for themselves. A successful author who encourages, owns mistakes, and shares successes. He also calls out those in business who think that they are above others when there are no better than anyone else. He is very encouraging of those who want to go into business for themselves. The book is chock-full of practical advice.

this is one of those books that needs to be re-read, maybe a few times, to catch everything. similar to when you re-watch a movie and "oh! i didn't see that last time!" happens. do it BUY THE BOOK. as long as you have common sense, this will all make sense.

Well written. I mean it's a best seller... It's is what you expect. Easy read. Not too technical

This book is a must read for all entrepreneurs, and business owners. Paul has a wonderful, simple way of explaining the fundamentals of any business and makes compelling arguments against the hyper-aggressive, sensational business practices prevalent in most organisations today. This book is a vital acknowledgment of how a sensible, and most importantly sustainable business should be built, and I can see myself coming back to this book in the future as well.

I bought this book for a mere £2.79 about a week ago and finally having found time to get around to it, have finished it in 2 days. Overall; I have to say that this book is very well written and in a way that isn't forceful to read. It reads like it is just one very large conversation between yourself and Paul Hawken, except, you don't actually say any words. What I like about this book is the idea that Mr. Hawken isn't forcing any information into our brains, it is offered in the words he has chosen to articulate the different stages of setting up your own business and he constantly makes the point about it being YOUR business and nobody else's, so in effect, he is trying to help you see what you cannot. The seller was fast in shipping the product and it is well priced. One point of conduct: The book was published in 1988 so if you're looking for books of a later decade then this isn't one of them, however, the ideologies within this book speak of a truer time within business and I personally think it is well within its rights to be read by anybody passing over it, and for £2.79, why not?

Very interesting

The relief of finding a business book that actually speaks common sense. Practical, progressive, ahead of its time but wonderfully relevant today