Recommended by: WiseSuit Staff

"In terms of power and influence, you can forget the church, forget politics. There is no more powerful institution in society than business - I believe it is now more important than ever before for business to assume a moral leadership. The business of business should not be about money, it should be about responsibility. It should be about public good, not private greed." - Anita Roddick

Anita Roddick is one of the world's most outspoken, controversial and successful businesswomen. Business As Unusual charts the story of Roddick and her company, The Body Shop, through the lows and highs of the last decade.

Along the way she turns the tables on the way society looks at business and shows how it is possible for an international company to act in an ethically responsible and accountable way, without sacrificing good business sense or profit margin.

More than just an autobiography or a book about business, Roddick also addresses personal issues - such as self-esteem - and wider political issues like the human rights' abuses associated with globalization. While offering her own vision for dealing with the demands of ethical business, Roddick also looks at the way public consciousness is now steadily forcing corporations to re-evaluate their actions. She believes we should never underestimate the power of public pressure to create change, from the boycott of Shell in 1995 to the battle of Seattle at the World Trade Organization Conference in late 1999.

The Body Shop is one of the business success stories of the century. This book ahows you how and why. When Anita Roddick started The Body Shop in 1976 she was a young mother with absolutely no business experience. Running their first shop in Brighton taught her all about survival - and also that good business is about more than just finances.

25 years later, The Body Shop is an international phenomenon. There are now over 1,700 stores serving over 84 million customers in 24 different languages. Yet The Body Shop remains as famous for its ethics as its success. Anita Roddick's visionary beliefs - in fair trade, environmental awareness, animal protection, respect for human rights, social campaigning - have remained intact throughout.

Anita was born to Italian immigrants in Littlehampton, an English seaside town, in 1942. The deep moral code that has always been her driving force was formed early on - traveling to pre-industrial farming and fishing communities exposed her to different ways of trading; the frugality exercised by her mother during the war led her to question retail conventions - why waste a container when you can refill it? These simple principles of community trading, reusing, refilling and recycling gave birth to The Body Shop's environmental activism.

Over the years Anita Roddick has adopted many guises - successful businesswoman, outspoken political activist, worldwide traveler, wife, mother and grandmother. She has received countless awards from all four corners of the globe for both personal and political reasons. However it is with The Body Shop that she is most closely identified - as the creator of the company with attitude which is renowned around the world for both its products and its principles.

Reviews:

"Few entrepreneurs have tied their product to a social cause with better effect." - BusinessWeek

"The Body Shop isn't just a shop. It's an arena of education." - USA Today

About the Author:

Anita Roddick is the Founder of The Body Shop.

Categories:  Leadership ,  Biography