Good Profit: How Creating Value for Others Built One of the World's Most Successful Companies

This is probably the most underrated business book of all time. I have never read a book that packs so much wisdom and valuable advice per page, yet is so readable and practical and doesn't think too highly of itself. If I were a professor at some university's business school, I would make this book required reading. I can't help but think that the book might be underrated due to they way that some hate the author due to his politics? But the book itself isn't particularly political. It is mostly business common sense with many interesting real life experiences (both failures and successes) to back up the author's business principles. The author's business is the 2nd largest privately owned company in the US (with 1/2 the revenues of Apple!) - and this author is the primary moving force behind that sustained growth that happened over decades. (He started with an order-of-magnitudes smaller company some decades ago.) Some entrepreneurs make it big because they were in the right place at the right time with the right idea or product. In contrast, Charles Koch made it big more due to hard work and principled leadership. If he could get a young body and access to a time machine - and had to go back in time and start all over from scratch - and could only take his principles and his determination with him - (but no proprietary knowledge) - I'm convinced he would replicate his success - every time! Therefore, advice from him is much superior and beneficial than advice from most famous business leaders who stumbled upon the right product at the right time - and that is abundantly apparent when reading this book. Yet this book is very down-to-earth and Koch is very humble as he explains his extremely valuable philosophy and experiences.

Overall the book is well written and easy to read and includes a personal side of Charles Koch not seen before-like the 153 death threats he got in 2014. The book discusses how Koch has grown tremendously since the 1960's (Charles didn't simply inherit the company as some might say). At 79 Koch still puts in 9 hour work days. The company has grown so much by reinvesting 90% of their earnings back into the company. What is interesting is how Koch Industries despite having 100,000 employees doesn't appear to be bureaucratic and individuals are always asked to challenge and consider continuous improvement which sometimes never occurs at even Fortune 500 companies.Overall the book is a mix of economics, a business profile, behavioral finance, philosophy, and good story telling of business failures. What I enjoyed the most Charles Koch is honest about his failures (there are plenty too). At one time Koch believed the company would go bankrupt in the 1970s. Koch tries to apply Market Based Management to every day examples (including the NFL and even how much time he should spend working editing grammar of the book he wrote). Case studies at the end of the book are interesting. Anecdotes of Koch over the long company history are sprinkled throughout the book. For instance the company got rid of insurance programs and mainly self insures. Only downside of book is wished it had more of the personal side. The book is really a great book for anyone who wants to try to live their life to their maximum potential.

"Good Profit" is Charles Koch's third book outlining and updating his concept of "Market-Based Management" (following "Market-Based Management" and "The Science of Success").It has two main shortcomings: First, the tone of the book is mostly dry and straightforward, which obscures the fact that the content is actually quite compelling. The author is an engineer by training and quite clearly a man deeply committed to rationality, so an all-business tone is probably the only way he could have written it in an authentic voice.Second, the framework of Koch's "Market-Based Management" relies heavily on uncommon mental models and operations; in naming these, and referring often to the names, the text requires that the reader absorb and accept them quickly. It's probably a necessary evil, but the repeated capitalization of concepts like "Principled Entrepreneurship" can seem a bit heavy-handed.For these reasons, the book's predecessor ("The Science of Success") actually feels like an easier read; however, since Koch's management philosophy remains a work in progress, it probably behooves the reader to study the latest book.Shortcomings notwithstanding, Koch's approach is philosophically satisfying (think of it as the rigorous application of a free-market political philosophy to the operation of a business) and backed by results (it would be naive to dismiss the success of Koch Industries or to chalk up its long-running success to chance, luck, or some fluke). It contains a considerable volume of useful and original insights as well as a surprising amount of tactical advice that can be implemented across the spectrum of businesses.Serious students of business and management should read it without delay.

Livro muito bom, sobre valores e estratégia de longo prazo para as empresas, além de foco em pessoas e valores.

Recommended book.

I know the book and it is a well written, easy to digest world of information. When used in business life or in fact in your whole life, the learnings can add real value to society

This book was well written and has a nice backstory to how the family came into it's name and built the initial business. As you read through the content Charles builds a framework with examples and justifications for the conclusions he formed as well as the evolution and transition for the decisions he makes. The ideas behind MBM and Principled Entrepreneurship are well defined and fairly concise; that being said I recommend reading the conclusion chapter first as he does well in explaining the intent and idea for how to get the most out of "Good Profit" which I think goes along way in setting expectations.This book will introduce you to things such as MBM, Principled Entrepreneurship, Schumpeter's Creative Destruction, Maslow's Theory of Hierarchical needs and many other ideas that define the importance of pursuing Healthy/Good Profit vs. distinctly Poor/Bad Profit. Charles does an exceptional job clearly defining the expectations of how he would like his Organization to operate as well as the moral viewpoint in which it is described. His idea's throughout seem natural, fluid and almost inline with one's moral objectivity... if you find yourself at odd's with the content you need to give yourself a holistic question as to "why?" and likely dig into Maslow's Theory a little more to help you achieve your desired state of Self-Actualization.If you enjoy this book, I recommend titles like "The Go-Giver" by Bob Burg & John David M, "Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy" by Joseph Schumpeter, "Give and Take" by Adam Grant and "The Science of Getting Rich" by Wallace D. Wattles.

Practical and to the point - must read to understand how build an organisation for the long haul. Highly recommend.