Good Company ─ Business Success in the Worthiness Era

In recent decades, corporate PR departments and business books like Good to Great promised a new era of value-based leadership, but as recent events have shown, actual corporate behavior still follows the old 'whatever you can get away with' standard. But Laurie Bassi and her co-authors have news: the "bad boy" days are over. As a result of a convergence of forces, ranging from the explosion of online information-sharing to the emergence of the ethical consumer and arrival of civic-minded Millennials, we're in a new era, which they dub "the Worthiness Era.' To succeed, businesses must now prove to consumers, employees, and investors that they have earned their respect'that they are good company.

For the first time, Bassi, a noted economist, has the research to prove that good behavior is good business. The authors have compiled a groundbreaking "Good Company Index" that directly ties business results to stakeholder relationships. Not only do the authors have the hard evidence to prove that good behavior pays, they have used the principles of the index at their own investment firm to delivery market-beating results. Finally, the authors provide senior executives with the principles and tools to adapt to the new road rules for business.

Laurie Bassi is an economist and expert in human capital analytics. She is CEO of McBassi & Company, a consulting firm that applies Good Company concepts to help businesses improve their results. Bassi also chairs Bassi Investments, which invests in companies that make significant investments in their people. She holds a Ph.D. in economics from Princeton University and spent the early years of her career as a tenured professor of economics at Georgetown University. She is the author of over 80 published papers, including two articles for Harvard Business Review.

Ed Frauenheim is a journalist with 15 years of experience writing about topics including technology, work, business, and education. He has written for CNET News.com, the Oakland Tribune, Salon.com, and Wired magazine. He currently is Senior Editor at Workforce Management magazine.

Dan McMurrer is the chief analyst at McBassi & Company and chief research officer at Bassi Investments. Prior to cofounding McBassi & Company, Dan worked in research positions at the Urban Institute, Saba Software, the American Society for Training and Development, and the U.S. Department of Labor.

Lawrence Costello is the founder of consulting firm The Lawrence Bradford Group. Previously he held top management positions at Campbell Soup Company, PepsiCo, Frito-Lay, and American Standard.