This is an inspiring manifesto[1] on how to move from "business" to "betterness". The core point is that business as usually seems to be stagnating. Capitalism as it's been practiced up to now can be seen as a system whose strength is in solving the ills of previous systems -- such as guilds with monopolies over production and employment. However, it doesn't go beyond that in providing the best set of tools to help people live satisfying lives.

For that, Haque argues, we need to move from business to betterness. Companies focused on betterness look at real wealth creation and destruction -- all of the various forms of human meaning and capital -- rather than just looking at how they can move dollars around the board in an often zero sum way.

Starting here, Haque talks about some core principles for embracing betterness. This is the heart of the book, but also where it gets frustrating at times. Haque wants to define a new paradigm. As such, his extensive use of new vocabulary makes sense. However, his use of greek terms to define various aspects of betterness can sometimes make it hard to remember exactly what is being talked about at the moment.

Overall, not perfect, but the ideas are super important and worth the few hours it takes to read.

[1] I.e., long on ideas, short on concrete details =) ( )