The Puritan's Gift

One of my pet peeves in the business world is the short sighted quarter to quarter drive make the quarterly report look good and hopefully boost stock prices. I have long attributed this to the increasing numbers of MBAs and consultants in American business. Where the purpose of business used to be to make a profit and possibly pay a dividend to stockholders it seems that is now a distraction to shuffling numbers on an SEC form.

Imagine my surprise to find out I am not alone in these heretical thoughts.

Ken Hopper and Will Hopper have written a book called "The Puritan Gift: Triumph, Collapse and Revival of an American Dream" which:

"traces the origins of contemporary management back to the strict disciplines of the Puritan Migrants of the 1630s and their flight to America. The authors list the four abiding aspects of Puritanism which infused the managerial culture established by the descendents of those early settlers as being: 1) the purpose of life was to establish the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth; 2) an aptitude for mechanical skills; 3) a moral outlook that subordinates the interest of the individual to the group; and, 4) an ability to gather, galvanize and marshal financial, material and human resources to a single purpose at whatever scale. More briefly put : Rectitude, Pragmatism, Teamwork and Leadership. An Appendix summarizes the quintessential of the book in a most useful listing of the authors' 25 principles underlying good practice from the Golden Age of Management (1920-1970). "

(I blatantly stole that from David Howards Review on Amazon.com)

Listening to the authors on BBC World Service last night I am really looking forward to reading this book, there views seem very close to my own. Unfortunately the book is out of print at the moment although the paperback releases in March.