Finding a Common Interest

This important book demonstrates how businesses can operate both profitably and ethically - by finding a common interest between all those involved in their operations. It does so through the example of Dick Dusseldorp, founder of Lend Lease, one of Australia's most admired blue-chip corporations. Arriving in postwar Australia with only one construction contract and a handful of workers on his company's books, Dusseldorp built Lend Lease into a billion-dollar property development and financial services concern. Widely respected for his business success, Dusseldorp was equally well known for his commitment to sharing the fruits of that success with the workers, shareholders and clients of Lend Lease, and the communities where the company conducted its business. Not only does this book tell the story of Lend Lease and its founder, through them it demonstrates how business can be done inclusively - and so provides a workable model for corporate governance.

• The book is both practical and relevant. Dealing with issues at the top of the corporate agenda, the lessons drawn from Dusseldorp's experience are all the more powerful because they show what has actually worked
• The book provides excellent case study material on topics ranging from organising production to managing labour, from developing new markets to negotiating with interest groups, from influencing public policy to governing the firm. Meanwhile, its focus on one man's working life gives it a structure, coherence and real-life flavour that collections of unrelated case studies of 'best practice' simply can't match
• The book is engagingly written and accessible to a wide audience