Serve to Be Great: Leadership Lessons from a Prison, a Monastery, and a Boardroom

Author's Note

All of the author proceeds from the sale of this book will be donated to the charities supported through a program implemented by my company, called Project Share.

Part of my transition from being mostly selfish to being as selfless as I can be has included making an effort to keep only what I need to be healthy, and to share anything extra. I apply this both in my personal life and in my company.

Accordingly, each time I am hired by a client, we offer to donate 10 percent of the speaking fee to that client's favorite charity. We see this as an opportunity to offer a gentle reminder of both the power and the joy of being generous.

Also, we are committed to keeping only what we need for the business and ourselves, and sharing the rest. At the end of each tax year, we donate 100 percent of profits that are not needed to keep the business viable. Necessary expenses include paying employees fair but not excessive salaries (I limit my salary to what I need to support the basic needs of my household), basic business expenses, and retaining enough capital to cover three to six months of those operational expenses. Everything else is donated to my favorite nonprofit organizations. You can see which organizations we support at www.MattTenney.com.

Our current goal is to donate at least $50,000 by the end of 2014 to nonprofit organizations doing great work.

I envision a world where every company operates with a similar model: instead of using profit as a means to accumulate ...