Step into the future of business with a playbook that turns sustainability into your most powerful competitive edge.
In today's rapidly evolving business landscape, sustainability isn't just an ethical choice; it's a strategic imperative. The Profitable Good: A Bold Playbook for Sustainable Business Growth (The Profitable Good) is a hands-on guide for entrepreneurs, intrapreneurs, impact-driven leaders, and professionals who want to build businesses that are both profitable and deeply responsible. Instead of treating sustainability as a marketing slogan or a CSR add-on, this book shows you how to weave it into the core of your business model.
Author Dr. Tamara Stenn, an accomplished economist, Fulbright Scholar, and entrepreneurship expert with over four decades of experience, has distilled her knowledge into this comprehensive guide. Through her work founding KUSIKUY Clothing Co., A Perfect Seed, and The Sustainability Lens Game® LLC, she brings an unparalleled real-world perspective to sustainable entrepreneurship.
The Profitable Good introduces readers to foundational concepts like the BMC, the Four Ps of Sustainability (People, Planet, Profit, and Purpose), the Four Pillars of Fair Trade (Institutions, Consumers, Producers, Government), and the Four Lenses of Sustainability (Resources, Health, Policy, Exchange). Each chapter features inspiring case studies from notable companies, such as Tony's Chocolonely and Grove Collaborative, showcasing how real businesses have overcome challenges to achieve sustainable success.
Through interactive exercises, relatable examples like the lemonade stand venture, and real-world tools like SWOT analyses and the entrepreneurship self-assessment, you will learn how to build impact into your operations, sales strategies, partnerships, and financial models. Using a hands-on, applied learning approach that incorporates downloadable templates, quiz questions, and practical tips throughout, The Profitable Good transforms sustainability theory into actionable business practice.
After reading it, you'll be able to:
- Embed sustainability into any business model using the Business Model Canvas.
- Identify your entrepreneurial strengths through self-assessment tools.
- Build competitive advantage through sustainable strategies.
- Strengthen community impact with inclusive business practices.
- Communicate your sustainability message effectively to stakeholders.
- Leverage new market opportunities to create measurable social and environmental impact.
The Profitable Good is ideal for operations and supply chain leaders, nonprofit and community leaders, entrepreneurs, professionals, marketing storytellers, and sustainability and impact practitioners who want to design the future of business.
Industry Reviews
This isn't a boring recipe book for the usual startup grind, but an approach to entrepreneurship that incorporates the other dimensions of our lives and communities.
-- Drew Hession-Kunz
Lecturer in Entrepreneurial Finance, Boston College
The book is grounded in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals to show how responsible practices can drive long-term business success. It provides insight into all the critical facets and theories entrepreneurs must consider-from idea generation and analysis to operations and impact-while illustrating concepts through strong, practical, and relevant examples.
-- Nicole O'Brien,
PhD, MSc, BBA Assistant Professor of Practice, Sawyer Business School, Suffolk University
The book offers a reliable and conceptually accurate overview of sustainability principles, with a practical orientation that makes the content actionable.
-- Dr. Glory Enyinnaya ,
Academic Director, Pan-Atlantic University, Lagos
This was quite an interesting read, as it examined business models while incorporating sustainability efforts. That's not something that is commonly touched upon when formulating business plans, so I found that a very unique perspective.
-- Mae B,
Netgalley reviewer
