University of St. Thomas

PRAISE FOR

Bringing Your Business to Life

 

You don't often read about prudence, justice, courage and temperance in the business literature, but they are the virtues that set the truly great entrepreneurs apart from all the rest. If you want to be one of them, you need to read this book. Jeffrey Cornwall and Michael Naughton have done a masterful job of illuminating a side of business we all should be thinking about.

Bo Burlingham

Editor-at-large, Inc.

Author, Small Giants: Companies that Choose to Be Great Instead of Big

 

While reading Bringing Your Business to Life, I found multiple opportu­nities to apply the Four Virtues to my life and to the ventures that I'm presently involved with. This book is practical, insightful and rele­vant for entrepreneurs who desire to better understand the social, spir­itual and economic impact we can have through our for-profit and nonprofit endeavors.

Corey Cleek

General Editor, Devotional Ventures

 

Jeff Cornwall and Michael Naughton have created a compelling argument for the integration of ethical and moral behavior and entrepreneurship. They dispel the myth that the “Ethical Entrepreneur^” is an oxymoron; rather they offer strong evidence that success and entrepreneurship are not mutually exclusive. Bringing Your Business to Life offers a vehicle for more cross-campus collaboration by introducing liberal arts concepts into the phenomena known as the entrepreneur and entrepreneurship.

George T. Solomon, D.B.A.

Director, Center for Entrepreneurial Excellence The George Washington University

 

Bringing Your Business to Life is a prescription for success in life as well as in business. It is a great synopsis of how financial and spiritual well­being can intersect in doing well by doing good. It reveals that it is not only what we do as a chosen profession, but it is who we are as a per­son that will dictate where we go in life. This book also acknowledges that even though mistakes will inevitably be made as we sometimes fail our way to success, with values and virtues as the pillars of our foun­dation for building an integrated personal and professional life, those mistakes should be mistakes of the head and not of the heart. Bringing Your Business to Life is good medicine for good business. In fact, it re­minds s that doing the right thing and putting faith into action is the best medicine for a great life.

Ron Loeppke, MD, MPH, FACPM, FACOEM

 

 

Bringing Your Business to Life helps fill a real gap in the literature on and for entrepreneurs (and by extension, on and for business). It bridges two worlds that have not spoken to each other in our culture as much as we need—the world of ethics and morality and religion on one side and the world of capitalism and business and entrepreneurship on the other. It provides a valuable framework for thinking about and practicing ethical entrepreneurship and for helping us see how to go beyond a limited, values-free, amoral, profits-are-the-only-measure-of­ success view of business. Bringing Your Business to Life gives us essential tools that we can use to build entrepreneurial ventures—and entre­preneurial lives—that matter and make a difference.

John Wark

Consultant and Former Software CEO

 

Professors Cornwall and Naughton utilize real-life experiences to demonstrate that entrepreneurship is a virtuous profession. Using basic Christian principles, the authors explore the issues facing entre­preneurs during all stages of their venture and challenge the myth that entrepreneurs have to act in unethical ways to survive. This is a must­read for anyone starting a new business, and it is a great primer for a class in entrepreneurial ethics.

Jeffrey S. Hornsby, Ph.D., SPHR

Jack Vanier Chair of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Kansas State University

 

Tired of conventional commentary regarding entrepreneurship? Join a conversation with a wise theologian and a reflective business founder who share stories and perspectives from a seven-year dialogue. Together they examine the charisma of the entrepreneur through' the lens of Christian virtues, suggesting a deep spirituality particular to the call­ing of those who drive our most dynamic business sector. This is a wise, readable and formative essay that will stick to the memory of any reader concerned with contemporary wealth formation through start­up enterprise.

Andre L. Delbecq

Thomas J. and Kathleen L. McCarthy University

Professor, Leavey School of Business, Santa Clara University, and the Professor and Director of the Institute for Spirituality and Organizational Leadership at the Santa Clara University School of Business