Good Business: The Talk, Fight, Win Way to Change the World, by Bill Novelli (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2021)
Who knew that centrist activism is a thing? Meet Bill Novelli, a Renaissance Soul who did marketing for one of the largest CPG (Consumer Packaged Goods) companies in the world, ran a PR agency, led several nonprofits including Tobacco-Free Kids and AARP, served in the Peace Corps, teaches social responsibility at Georgetown University’s business school, and…(too much more to list here). Republicans call him a Democrat while Democrats call him a Republican.
I often joke that my left-wing friends call me a capitalist tool while my right-wing friends call me a communist dupe, so I can relate. But I identify as an unabashed progressive who happens to support ethical capitalism; Novelli identifies as a proud centrist—but one who’s willing to “talk, fight, win” and willing to “stress the system” by engaging in multiple points and strategies at once (p. 39).
Novelli is a great cross-pollinator and coalition builder. He amplifies voices from corporate, nonprofit, religion, government, grassroots, and academia. He finds value in each of these career paths, and in those who synthesize these different silos or jump among them.
He’s also a long-term, big-picture thinker. Early on, he became a convert to ethical business that does social/environmental good—after succumbing to pressure to do the wrong thing and realizing he’d made a huge mistake (pp. 34-35). Since then, he’s worked to transform business culture so no one is forced into those kinds of choices—continuing to use the story skills he learned as a marketer in his later work as lobbyist, nonprofit executive, and educator. He promotes the broad messages that:
- Social change is profitable (including measures aimed at the bottom of the economic pyramid)
- Competitors need to work together to solve big problems
- Nontraditional employees (such as elders or people with disabilities) can thrive and help their organizations thrive
- Early interventions can ripple out to make enormous changes (e.g., brain exercises for preschoolers can reduce prison populations decades later—p. 304).
Where I found the most value was the detailed case studies: the specifics of how, what worked, what didn’t, the immediate and long-term outcomes, and their impact: taking on big tobacco, pp. 61-128; fighting to get a Medicare prescription drug benefit, pp. 129-166; protecting Social Security, pp. 167-198. For instance, we discover Tobacco-Free Kids’ single-sentence mission statement, “We work to save lives by advocating for public policies that prevent kids from smoking, help smokers quit, and protect everyone from secondhand smoke”, its four public policy pillars, and even punchier vision statement: “A future free of the death and disease cause by tobacco” (pp. 108-109).
The book is peppered with great quotes like these:
“Society is increasingly looking for companies…to address pressing social and economic issues…Profits are in no way inconsistent with purpose…[they’re] inextricably linked.”—Larry Fink, CEO, Blackrock (p. 9)
“Why can’t we sell brotherhood like soap?” (quoted without attribution by Novelli, p. 39. I tracked it down to G.B. Wiebe, quoted in a footnote to Philanthropy in America by Dwight Burlingame)
“It is never easy for…warriors to transform themselves into peacemakers, to shift from the comfort of combatting a…demonized enemy to…acknowledging an enemy as simultaneously a bargaining partner.” (Mike Pertschuk, former head of the Federal Trade Commission, p. 119)
“Problems worthy of attack prove their worth by attacking back.” (Piet Hein, mathematician, paraphrased by Novelli, p. 269).
