Better, Not Perfect
A Realist’s Guide to Maximum Sustainable Goodness
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*** Distinguished Winner for the Responsible Research in Management Award ***
Negotiation and decision-making expert Max Bazerman explores how we can make more ethical choices by aspiring to be better, not perfect.
Every day, you make hundreds of decisions. They’re largely personal, but these choices have an ethical twinge as well; they value certain principles and ends over others. Bazerman argues that we can better balance both dimensions—and we needn’t seek perfection to make a real difference for ourselves and the world.
Better, Not Perfect provides a deeply researched, prescriptive roadmap for how to maximize our pleasure and minimize pain. Bazerman shares a framework to be smarter and more efficient, honest and aware—to attain your “maximum sustainable goodness.” In Part Two, he identifies four training grounds to practice these newfound skills for outsized impact: how you think about equality and your tribe(s); waste—from garbage to corporate excess; the way you spend time; and your approach to giving—whether your attention or your money. Ready to nudge yourself toward better, Part Three trains your eye on how to extend what you’ve learned and positively influence others.
Melding philosophy and psychology as never before, this down-to-earth guide will help clarify your goals, assist you in doing more good with your limited time on the planet, and see greater satisfaction in the process.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Ethical self-improvement is a task best taken one day at a time, argues Harvard Business School professor Bazerman (The Power of Experiments, coauthor) in this encouraging primer aimed at businesspeople. Utilitarianism gets a bad rap, Bazerman writes, but with the right outlook, it can help people reach their "maximum sustainable level of goodness." This means figuring out how to create as much value as possible for the most people, in as sustainable a level as possible. He focuses on such areas as identifying waste (both corporate and personal), allocating time more effectively "both for your own benefit and for the benefit of others," and practicing philanthropy more with an eye toward genuinely helping others than gratifying one's ego. The book is best where it uses familiar examples like the runaway trolley problem and the prisoner's dilemma to nudge readers into rethinking their preconceptions about ethics, away from rule-following and toward considering the practical implications for others. Bazerman's encouraging call for readers to keep moving in the right direction, even if they aren't on the fast track to perfection, is a much-needed and sane approach to personal betterment.
