Business as a Calling

I'm writing this review to balance the far-too-positive ones above. I was forced to read this book for a college course. The book is simply not well-written nor is it a convincing defence of the free-market system.An example of the incompetent writing: "A fourth truth about callings is also apparent: They are not usually easy to discover" (p35) You are not supposed to contradict your own sentence. This is an example of confusing, bad writing.In much of the book, the author just repeats self-serving corporate public relations boilerplate, up to the point of unwitting self-parody. On page 22 he praises another saint of capitalism: "Kenneth Lay, chairman of. . . Enron. "I grew up the son of a Baptist minister. From this background I was fully exposed to not only legal behavior but moral and ethical. . . the most satisfying thing[] in life is to create a highly moral and ethical environment. . . ."The worst thing is that the book contains nothing new. There is not a single new idea proposed that I saw. Novak simply rehashes trite, clichéd material. At one embarrassing point, he compares modern American business CEO's to the Greek soldiers at Thermopylae, holding off the barbarian hordes. As if CEO's, with probably not a day of physical labor in their lives, trying to manipulate their stock price, were the equivalent of men fighting to the death to save their civilization. But at least we know that the author is 'well read' (as if Thermopylae weren't in every Western Civ course already)The main argument consists of Novak putting the word "ethical" in the same sentence as "business", as if this somehow proved anything. He also wastes much space reciting the well-known example of Andrew Carnegie; as if anyone doesn't know it already. We get it--one wealthy person gave his money away (while the other 99% kept it in trust funds for their own future offspring).Novak then attempts to drop every clichéd literary allusion possible. He quotes Ben Franklin; de Tocqueville; and the Bible--as if the Bible couldn't be used to justify ANY point on economics, capitalistic or communistic. He also is wrong, consistently. He states that capitalism is only 200 years old (pg 84); of course, it is far older than that--for example, the anciet Romans had corporations (collegia); double-entry bookeeping dates at least from the middle ages. Capitalism the *word* itself may date from about 200 years, but the idea behind it is far older. Novak confuses the beginning of a word's usage, and the concept behind it.He claims only leaders in democracies are forced to take responsibility for their decisions (p89), saying unelected rulers like Pinochet ruined their economies. But in fact, Pinochet helped overthrow Chile's democratically elected president, Allende, an actual socialist-communist who would have violently opposed Novak's entire theory on capitalism & religion!He gratuitously throws in an allusion to Robinson Crusoe, calling him 'mythical' (pg 65), and pointing out that nobody is self-sufficient. Of course, Robinson Crusoe was a fictional *character*, but was closely based on a real person, Alexander Selkirk, that did live self-sufficiently on a deserted Island for many years, creating his own miniature society. (Hey author, try reading 'The Solitude of Alexander Selkrik', you must have missed that one in English Lit 101.). In any case, 'myth' has a specific literary meaning and Novak misuses it to try and scope a cheap shot. A novel about solitude has nothing to do with being 'mythical'. Novak cannot write.The only reason this book is bought so much is that colleges assign it to business students, and American Roman Catholics like Novak's rewriting of the Gospel. For a true defense of free-market economics, try Ayn Rand's work, Murray Rothbard, F. Von Hayek, or Ludwig von Mises.

I ordered this book for a Business Ethics course in my MBA program. Novak has some very thoughtful and logical insights into business ethics and I appreciated his theological viewpoints. He uses relatable analogies to tie concepts together. Some portions of the book do get long winded. Overall, it's an enjoyable book for what I thought was going to be an uneventful read. The book delivered within the Prime delivery window in excellent condition.

Required reading for one of my grad classes. I can honestly say that it was full of valuable information but nothing too ground breaking. I recommend this book for anyone considering starting a business.

Read the book as part of a graduate program course. I found the content very interesting and a far cry from the dry reading of a text book but the writing style made some parks difficult to read.

Excellent Book. I used this in my MBA class at Baylor. I loved the way it integrated concepts of faith into everyday decision making. The book is not overtly preachy in any way. It does, however, have somewhat of a right wing bias, but nothing too extreme. I found this book a joy to read.

Was assigned this book for my business ethics class and didn't mind it at all. Though I believe Novak chooses to dismiss any horrible actions taken by Andrew Carnegie, he does use well placed themes and arguments to suggest that capitalism is the best known system in today's world which allows man to fulfill their calling and purpose in an ethical manner.

Great book

Great for the business man to understand his calling. Great for the lay person to understand business men. Should be required reading for any college business freshman.