Profit Motive
What Drives the Things We Do
Charles Sauer
By Charles Sauer
About the Book
Most businesses are driven to maximize profit, but what does this drive really mean in action?
In Profit Motive: What Drives the Things We Do economist Charles Sauer makes the case that identifying your own and others’ “Profit Motives” provides the foundation for running a successful business, being an effective leader, a good consumer, and getting what you really want out of life.
In this highly praised new treatise on economic behavior, Sauer examines how businesses make decisions in pricing and employment and how the search for long-term profit can mean adopting practices that may seem contrary to fundamental capitalist principles.
But the Profit Motive analysis goes well beyond the realm of finance and corporate decision-making to explain how “profit” is the motivating force behind an endless array of choices made by everyone from large organizations to individuals and their families. Almost every decision we make is based on the principle of our motivation to profit, whether we think we will gain a financial benefit or something else. So if we understand the profit motives of others we can use this information to our advantage.
One such benefit might be the flexibility to rearrange our work schedule in a way that allows us time to pursue another interest. Or a benefit could be an opportunity to take on greater responsibly that could lead to a more powerful position and increased respect from others.
Paying more attention to the “profit motives” of nonprofit organizations, the media, our health care providers, and our educational, political, and religious institutions also has very real practical benefits—it will make you less of a target for scams, help you to negotiate something valuable, and increase your ability to close a deal.
While profit motives go largely unnoticed, they are persistent and their cumulative effects are tremendous. Because of our constant dealing with the motives of others you must learn to understand them to build leverage and work the world to your own advantage.
Understanding how profit motives work has many applications for success in achieving what you want in life, whether your goal is to build your business, spend more time with your family, or develop a better community.