The Book: Why I Wrote It, How You Can Use It and Benefit from It

I wrote More Than Money for three reasons. The first is to make money and leave a legacy. Coincidentally, the book is an example of two key messages: money is an important goal, but so is serving yourself and others. When I made a lot of money, I probably gave too much away. Maybe I was out of balance. But I did what I thought was right and have few regrets. After giving probably too much of my time away as well to the three nonprofits I love—Net Impact, Social Venture Network, and Temple Beth David—it’s time for me to provide for my family.

The second reason is to inspire you, to give you the courage to focus your career on service, on creating a better world for all. Given all of your educational opportunities, I believe that each of you has a lucky lottery ticket in life compared with the other 6.7 billion people on earth. You are all going to make a good living. The question is, what else will you do with that ticket? I want to help you use that ticket to serve others and in that way serve yourself.

The third reason is to provide you with a guidebook for what can be a difficult career path. After a school speech a decade ago, one of my best friends and colleagues, Deb Imershein, warned, “Mark, you do a great job of getting the MBAs all fired up. But then they go out and get shot!”

Today, organizations like Net Impact can help you develop a support community and get jobs that honor your values. But there’s no personal guidebook. So think of More Than Money as a mirror to look at yourself—to examine your passions, goals, career, and life. It’s something we all need help doing. The heart of the book, the four chapter title questions and twelve lifelines (described in the next section), takes you through the process of constructing what I’ve called a destiny plan, a plan to help you seek and find your unique “inner realizable purpose of life.”

In addition to the four chapter title questions, there are sixty-four sets of questions to help you construct this personal, authentic plan: thirteen for each of the four chapters and four each at the end of the Preface, Introduction, and Conclusion. These questions appear at the end of the introductory section of each chapter and after each lifeline. You should use only those questions that work for you. No one is expected to use them all.

The questions in the Preface ask you to start off by thinking about where you want to end up (for example, what will your contribution be?). The Introduction follows by zooming in on today and your business school experience. Your responses give you an end point and a starting point to construct your plan as you read and respond to the next four chapters. The questions at the end of the Conclusion ask you to reach inside and outside further, if you can.

You will see my destiny description, the core of your plan, without specific timetables and the like, in Chapter 1. You will see a structure that works for me, but there is no one format for a description, much less a plan. It is a work in progress structured to be most useful to you. Its level of detail depends on how you use the book.

Depending on how much time you have and what benefits you are looking for, there are at least three ways you can use this book.

• For inspiration. Read the book, taking notes on what questions and challenges strike you as most compelling. Then return to those sections, reread the relevant stories and discussion, and come up with changes you think you need to make. Put one into action in your next job search.
• For courage. Skim the book and then read in detail the sections that most interest you with a group of friends. Discuss your different paths and reactions, gathering ideas of how you might support each other in making changes.
• As a guide. Use the entire book as a workbook. Read through it once, and then go back over every section, writing down and responding to each question you find relevant. For support, this is best done in a group. Your final assignment is a personal destiny plan, starting with your next step.

Of course, you can just simply read the book and see what sticks! It all depends on what you expect to gain from More Than Money. The biggest benefit is seeking and finding your “right place.”

More specifically, the book encourages you to think differently about career possibilities. MBAs have broader opportunities than most people in their career choices but often feel their options are limited. More Than Money gives you a more expansive yet more personal perspective on career decisions and the opportunity to explore your deepest desires. It supports you to follow your dreams and make a contribution.

Getting on your destiny path sooner is a second benefit. Too often people fail to make necessary changes until the pain of not changing becomes greater than the fear of change. More Than Money should reduce your fear of change and thus the time you spend not living your life. Through the perspective of your destiny path, the book reframes your perceived risks and the rewards expected from various career choices. You’ll also have more time to build a community to support you through life’s ups and downs.

The third benefit is for you to feel happier and more fulfilled. More Than Money can help you unlock your passion and be true to yourself. If you do, compassion will follow. There’s a symbiotic relationship between serving yourself and serving others. You can even be a “hard-core” MBA but still benefit from finding or creating work that is closer to the values of your heart. And in so doing, you’ll inevitably end up giving more to others.

More Than Money offers a unique continuum from self-actualization (Chapters 1 and 2) to a service-based life (Chapters 3 and 4). It’s up to you how far you want to go. Clarifying your values and trying to create or find work that expresses those values may be enough for now. Each step in the process of serving yourself and serving others is important for spending your time as you like.

As the New York Times reported, every living thing has about one billion heartbeats. What will you do with your billion?