Bentley Professor of Marketing Raj Sisodia and Whole Foods Market Co-Founder, Co-CEO John Mackey encourage free market capitalism and provide a business model for grounded, ethical business practice in their new book “Conscious Capitalism: Liberating the Heroic Spirit of Business.” Arguing for the inherent good of both business and capitalism, the authors use well-known companies to illustrate how these two forces can — and do — work powerfully to create value for all stakeholders: customers, employees, suppliers, investors, society, and the environment.  The book release has stirred up media attention and a refocused look at the bottom line by many business leaders.

“People and companies should strive to operate with a higher purpose in mind,” says Sisodia, who co-founded the Conscious Capitalism Institute. “There are many successful companies already doing this — including Whole Foods Market, Southwest Airlines, Costco, Google, Patagonia, The Container Store, and UPS — but it’s time to better understand how.”

The book does that by showing how organizations use four specific tenets — higher purpose, stakeholder integration, conscious leadership, and conscious culture and management — to build strong businesses and help advance capitalism further toward realizing its highest potential.

Sisodia and Mackey share their blueprint for a new way of doing business grounded in a more evolved ethical consciousness — providing a new lens for individuals and companies looking to build a more cooperative, humane, and positive future.

Sisodia argues: “Aspiring leaders and business builders need to continue on this path of transformation, for the good of both business and society.”

Sisodia has expanded Bentley University’s focus on ethics and social responsibility, one of the school's main pillars, with his work as a founding member of the Conscious Capitalism movement.  He earned his MBA in Marketing from the Bajaj Institute of Management Studies in Bombay, and a Ph. D. in Marketing from Columbia University. His current research focuses on conscious capitalism, leadership and change management.  In 2003, he was cited as one of "50 Leading Marketing Thinkers" and named to the "Guru Gallery" by the Chartered Institute of Marketing.  Bentley honored him with the Award for Excellence in Scholarship in 2007 and the Innovation in Teaching Award in 2008.  He was named one of "Ten Outstanding Trailblazers of 2010" by Good Business International, and one of the "Top 100 Thought Leaders in Trustworthy Business Behavior" by Trust Across America for 2010 and 2011.

In addition to this latest release, Sisodia has published seven books and over 100 academic articles.  His work has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Fortune, Financial Times, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, and CNBC. His book “The Rule of Three: How Competition Shapes Markets” was a finalist for the 2004 Best Marketing Book Award from the American Marketing Association. His book “Firms of Endearment: How World Class Companies Profit from Passion and Purpose” was named one of the best business books of 2007 by Amazon.com.  Sisodia has consulted with and taught executive programs for numerous companies, including AT&T, Nokia, LG, DPDHL, POSCO, Siemens, Sprint, MCI, Volvo, IBM, Ernst & Young, Walmart, McDonalds and Southern California Edison.  He is on the Board of Trustees of Conscious Capitalism Inc.