Sacred Commerce: Business as a Path of Awakening: Matthew Engelhart, Terces Engelhart, Megan Marie Brown
Sacred Commerce: Business as a Path of Awakening Paperback – May 6, 2008
by Matthew Engelhart (Author), & 2 more
4.5 out of 5 stars 20 customer reviews
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Customer Reviews
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4.0 out of 5 starsBusiness as it should be
By Amazon Customer on May 11, 2008
Format: Paperback
In "Sacred Commerce, Business as a Path of Awakening" business is not a usual. Matthew and Terces Engelhart show how a profitable business does not have to follow the common pattern of business that measures success with dollar signs alone. Their new book discusses an approach to business that recognizes the importance of the employees well being and the experience of the guest first.
This book follows a step by step approach to implement a business practice that is also a spiritual practice. A place where profit, awakening, sustainability, and service can work together to make a work place that gives everyone who experiences it an opportunity to grow spiritually instead of a workplace that restricts the time you have to spend on your spiritual life.
While the book itself is not long in length it is filled with a series of very short chapters that explain each and every point made. I found that instead of making the same statement over and over in slightly different ways the writing style of this book was more about using an economy of words to make a point. Yet it was necessary to take your time and ponder over each and every sentence to be sure not to miss a single point. Most chapters ended with the opportunity to put into practice the point that was made in that chapter.
Having come from Years of work in the food service industry I would have loved to have worked in a workplace much like the one the Engelhart's have created. Now that I have my on business as a sole proprietor I hope to find ways to also incorporate some of their principles in the work I do. While I do not have any employees in my business I know that I can implement these practices with my clients and the way I approach business on a daily basis.
This book is a must read for anyone who struggles with the desire to maintain their spirituality while following their passion in the business of their choice. Being a spiritual business owner is the change that the world needs at this time while many other businesses have lost their ability to serve the communities that they are earning their living from.
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1.0 out of 5 starsUninspiring and uninformative
By Amazon Customer on May 16, 2008
Format: Paperback
"Sacred Commerce: Business as a Path of Awakening" offers to share tools for building a spiritual community in the workplace, developed by the authors in running their own businesses. While the book does tantalize the reader with a few interesting ideas, it falls short of the mark with poor organization, inadequate introduction to concepts, lack of detail, and non-productive distractions.
The authors expect a great deal from the reader, perhaps writing to an audience of Buddhist capitalists who are already familiar with Sawaf and Gabrielle's "Sacred Commerce: The Rise of the Global Citizen," various popular self-help books, and stories written on Starbucks coffee cups. New terms are frequently used without definition and without strong enough contexts for the reader to be able to do more than guess at the meanings. Combined with these undefined terms is an abuse of the English language (intended to be cute or catchy) that makes the text often confusing and difficult to read, coming off as meaningless drivel at the best of times. Some of the ideas and terms border on offensive, such as the idea of the business manager as a "shaman," probably because the authors fail to sell the reader on the core concepts.
While the book does present one or two guidelines for implementing their methods, and a few exercises that suggest ways to put their ideas into practice, mostly the "tools" are scantily presented with insufficient explanation, few illustrative examples, or sufficient detail to make the techniques and ideas particularly useful or even understandable. In general, the book is poorly organized, almost appearing to be a random collection of chapters with no clear transitions from one topic to the next, and something that appears to be a glossary (but on close inspection, is not) inserted in the middle. Hopefully, when the finalized version hits the shelves, it contains the promised "Appendix" (not found in the advanced reading copy read by this reviewer).
The text is riddled with distractions that fail to lead the reader to the point and often detract from the flow. Spiritual quotes interrupt rather than inspire. The authors imply self-doubt or defensiveness in the form of negative statements, such as "Our Sacred Enterprise... is often accused of being a cult..." that add nothing to the reader's understanding and diminish the book's credibility. Other seemingly random or out-of-place statements and anecdotes simply leave the reader wondering what the original point was.
Priced similarly to best selling classics in the genre (for example, "7 Habits of Highly Effective People" or Lencioni's business fables), this very thin book does not deliver the same bang for the buck. Short on content and failing to inspire, "Sacred Commerce: Business as a Path of Awakening" comes off as a mildly interesting, sketchy outline of a book-in-progress, or worse, an advertisement for a trendy restaurant chain disguised as a professional improvement book.
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4.0 out of 5 starsInteresting book
By dlowe on September 11, 2010
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
We've been exploring socially conscious ways of operating businesses. This was one of several books we've read on the subject. They've used some really unusual techniques to change the energy of the business they are running. It was fascinating to read about.
I don't think I could work in the environment they've created but I can see where it could be very beneficial to a number of people. We've
pulled a number of ideas out of this book that we are working to incorporate in our business structure. It is worth the read, not only for the good ideas but as a way to stretch the limits of what we think might be possible as far as employee interaction goes.
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5.0 out of 5 starsA bow to the wisdom and beauty of this book
By Kevin J. Kelly on October 30, 2011
Format: Paperback
First a disclaimer or two. I am not a Buddhist capitalist nor have I ever met the authors or visited their cafe. Although having read this I want to both meet them and eat in their establishment. This book was given to me because of a conversation I was having with a socially awake and concerned entrepreneur when we were discussing conscious business practices. I completed my read of it this morning. There is a wonderful discussion going on in our world today that uses different terms, conscious business, conscious capitalism, and sacred commerce to name just three. When I hear any of those they strike a cord in me. Long ago I had a little flower shop and I used to tell people that it was my chapel. I did not know others also found the sacred in their businesses. I am so grateful today that people are stepping to the plate and discussing this idea, which is vibrant and beautiful. This book adds just the right word to the discussion both with the story of Cafe Gratitude and some of the authors' insights for how one can establish the sacred in their business. As an imaginative and intuitive reader I was grateful that the authors have written a book that is more inspiration than self help even though some suggestions are given for practice and that they have written a book that supports the reader in his our her own contemplation of the topic. I bow to the wisdom and the beauty of this book. Kevin Joel KellyLetting the Lotus Bloom, the Expression of Soul through Flowers
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Spirituality, Mind-Body, Gender, Ecology, Ageing, Peace, Scrapbook (in English and Korean)
