Over the past several years a cascade of corporate scandals have erupted. Savings and provisions for retirement have shrunk drastically. Jobs have been lost. One of the world's largest and best-known accounting firms is gone. Ordinary people have been hurt and they have lost confidence in business leaders. The on-going public debate over business ethics and corporate reform points to one common conclusion: Things cannot be corrected by simply adding more laws and new rules. The solution will come from high moral leadership. The Heart of A Business Ethic is based on the Hansen-Wessner Lectureship Series established by the ServiceMaster Foundation to consider the source of moral authority and ethical behavior in business. The eight lectures in this series were presented at major universities in the U.S. and Britain, and brought together some of the most distinguished business experts of our time. What they have to say is important for business teachers and students, and business leaders at every level. The scandals at Enron, Tyco and others have generated many books on business ethics, but none offer the expertise or breadth of thinking that this volume does. The Heart of A Business Ethic is useful to professors, students, and practitioners who not only want to understand what has happened, but who also want to think through the basis for a new standard of morality in business.

"ForeWord Reviews" Mother's Day Staff Pick: "Books Mom Will Love"

"A valuable historical reference guide." --"Publishers Weekly"

"This is a very ambitious and timely book, a book that many historians, literary theorists and story tellers who care about China and its "Other Half of the Sky" want to write, but Brian Griffith did it first, with such scope, ease and fun." --WANG PING, author of "The Last Communist Virgin" and "Aching for Beauty: Footbinding in China"

"This book is a most engaging and entertaining read, and the depth of its scholarship is astounding. Griffith vividly describes the counterculture of Chinese goddesses, shows that their fascinating stories are alive and active today, and points us toward a more inclusive and caring partnership future." --RIANE EISLER, author of "The Real Wealth of Nations: Creating a Caring Economics" and "The Chalice and the Blade: Our History, Our Future"

Touching on the whole story of China--from Neolithic villages to a globalized Shanghai--this book ties mythology, archaeology, history, religion, folklore, literature, and journalism into a millennia-spanning story about how Chinese women--and their goddess traditions--fostered a counterculture that flourishes and grows stronger every day.

As Brian Griffith charts the stories of China's founding mothers, shamanesses, goddesses, and ordinary heroines, he also explores the largely untold story of women's contributions to cultural life in the world's biggest society and provides inspiration for all global citizens.

Brian Griffith grew up in Texas, studied history at the University of Alberta, and now lives just outside of Toronto, Ontario. He is an independent historian who examines how cultural history influences our lives, and how collective experience offers insights for our future.

Nearly 50% of the world's population - almost 3 billion people - live on less than $2 a day. 10 million children die every year from easily preventable diseases. AIDS kills 3 million people every year and 1 billion people lack access to sanitation. About one-quarter of children in poor countries do not nish primary school and some 1 billion adults are illiterate. To date, the debate on tackling global poverty has been dominated by the case for providing more aid. The authors of this booklet certainly believe that foreign aid has a role to play in facing this challenge. However, here they voice the need for greater emphasis to be given to the part that business and enterprise can play in reducing poverty. In recent years China and India have proved dramatic examples of countries which have reformed their economies, opened up to trade and investment, embraced an enterprise culture, and lifted millions of their citizens out of poverty. Grif ths and Tan believe Africa has the same potential as Asia. Micro-credit has been a crucial rst step in directly helping the poor escape poverty. Using case studies they argue that social venture capital has the potential to become a new asset class and a critical second step to support the growth of small and medium sized enterprises in developing countries, so creating jobs and reducing poverty.

From the Foreword by Riane Eisler:
"Griffith's narrative moves like a searchlight over each phase of church history, illuminating the visions, options, and choices behind events. He traces the rise of a dominator version of Christianity, in which the primary concern was a chain of command to be followed, with rewards or punishments according to the degree of obedience. And beside this he illuminates another face of Christianity, concerned with healing all divisions between 'loved and unloved' people. The story Griffith presents is often deeply disturbing, as in his unstinting accounts concerning 'the gospel for women', or the age of holy wars and witch hunts. But ultimately his story offers solid grounds for optimism. He shows that all contention between different religious visions can be a process of building partnership. As Griffith points out, Jesus himself wished to debate his opponents openly, not to silence or eliminate them. He was not afraid of real encounter, or the potential of creative conflict.
I want to congratulate Brian Griffith on this masterful, controversial, and highly readable account. His book offers hope in a divided world, where reaction against globalized 'godless corporate secularism' meets with a 'war on fundamentalism'. I hope to see other writers do comparable work in highlighting the partnership and dominator visions within their religious traditions around the world."
- Riane Eisler,

author of The Chalice & the Blade, Sacred Pleasure, Tomorrow's Children,
The Power of Partnership, The Real Wealth of Nations