MCLEAN, Va. – How can businesses be run to be more people-centric than profit-centric? How can business leaders reconcile their work and faith lives? That’s what Peet van Biljon and James C. Sprouse address in their book, “Profit with a Higher Purpose – a Christian Guide to Business Leadership”
Business decisions greatly affect the lives of employees, customers, suppliers, and society at large. In pursuit of short-term profits, businesses may underpay and overwork employees, use unethical sales techniques, sell dangerous products to vulnerable consumers, cut costs so it harms people, and take other questionable actions that while legal, do not conform to highest ethical standards. It doesn’t have to be this way.
“Profit with a Higher Purpose” tackles vexing topics in chapters such as: The Many Sacrifices of the Ideal Worker, Shackles of the Shareholder-Primacy Demon, A Principled Life in an Imperfect World.
“The book focuses on the core business decisions executives make every day, not just those usually thought of as ethical decisions,” says co-author Peet van Biljon. “We examine each business decision through both an economic and an ethical lens, and provide the reader with practical guidance.”
Whether it is providing a framework to navigate the challenges of automation and globalization, or advocating for fair employee compensation and reasonable work hours, “Profit with a Higher Purpose” connects the world of modern business with that of faith.
“We are inviting business leaders into a conversation,” says co-author James C. Sprouse. “The book provides a theological and ethical platform for looking at business issues in a way that is both new, and yet based on age-old wisdom.”
Peet van Biljon advises companies on strategy, innovation and ethics. He has worked in the business world for thirty years. He has been a management consultant at McKinsey and CEB, and has held executive positions in several companies internationally.
James C. Sprouse is senior pastor at Trinity United Methodist Church in McLean, Virginia. Sprouse has been serving as a pastor for over forty years.