Letter from the Editor of the Social Venture Network Series

Talk to just about any member of Social Venture Network who runs a business, and you’ll likely learn that pursuing the triple bottom line of people, planet, and profit isn’t just personally more rewarding than following the single bottom line of profit—it’s also often more profitable. Yet if you ask that same entrepreneur whether integrating social and environmental values into her core business principles and practices has made running her business easier, you’ll hear a different story

As Lisa Lorimer and Margot Fraser write in this remarkable little book, “Nothing is ever smooth in business. Things rarely run exactly as they should without challenges that keep you up at night.” Truth to tell, the triple bottom line may add to the challenges.

Every business decision, whatever the circumstances, is a matter of trade-offs. Running a socially responsible business imposes a whole new set of trade-offs:

Customers may demand better service than your overworked staff can provide. How can you satisfy both stakeholders’ interests?

A commitment to lighten the company’s environmental footprint may require retraining staff and increasing costs in the short run. If you have limited cash on hand, will that commitment have to wait?

Guaranteeing quality products may pose financial challenges when the price of a key ingredient dramatically rises. Is cutting your own take-home pay the only way to honor your commitment to quality?

Situations like these, and thousands of others, bedevil every socially responsible business leader. In the pages that follow, Margot and Lisa explore such questions in the broader context of the difficult challenges that face any small or midsized business—from the very personal perspective of the business owner.

Dealing with the Tough Stuff is an intensely personal book. This is a sort of “true confessions” from the world of business, so very unlike the case studies found in business school courses. This is raw reality, laid bare for you and me by two remarkable business leaders who bear the scars of their success. Beginning with the authors’ own brutally honest stories, and encompassing a host of others from business founders and owners who share their own painful and embarrassing difficulties, this book will help you negotiate the minefield of financial, emotional, and personal challenges that will inevitably arise as you build your business.

If you’re in business, or thinking of starting a company, “for the fun of it,” please read this book. When you hit those unavoidable bumps in the road and it’s not fun anymore, you’ll think back to one of the many memorable stories in this book, or some insightful comment by the authors, and you’ll get through the crisis with a little bit less anxiety.

If Dealing with the Tough Stuff had been available to me many years ago when my business was on the ropes, I’m sure I would have gotten a lot more sleep.

MAL WARWICK
Berkeley, California
October 2009