WINNER OF BUSINESS BOOK OF THE YEAR. - TATA LIT FEST

WINNER OF 2023 BUSINESS BOOK OF THE YEAR

The Tata Literature Live! Business Book of the Year Award recognizes the best business writing in the Indian literary space. This year’s winner is Working To Restore: Why We Do Business In The Regenerative Era by Esha Chhabra (Penguin Random House India).

Many of today’s startups are rewriting the rules of business: how it’s done, by whom, and, most importantly, for what purpose. Journalist Esha Chhabra draws on her decades of reporting to explore not only the “feel good, do good” factors of restorative enterprises across nine industries but also the nuanced realities and promise of regenerative business operations. 

In Working to Restore, Chhabra highlights how their work moves beyond the greenwashed idea of “sustainability” into a new era of regeneration and restoration.

“BOTH BEAUTIFUL AND NECESSARY.”

-Stephan Chambers, Marshall Institute, London School of Economics

“Essential reading as we work to solve the social,

economic, and environmental problems of our times.”

— Ryan Gellert, CEO of Patagonia

“We are entering the Regenerative Era. Chhabra provides portraits of innovation, resilience, and commitment to the planet and humankind that can help lead business into this new era.”


–Dr. Robert Strand, executive director, Center for Responsible Business, University of California–Berkeley

“This book is rooted in optimism. The concrete examples of success stories like the ones found throughout this book show us that it’s possible to reverse the course.”

- Jay Coen Gilbert, co-founder of B Corp

Working to Restore offers practical hope, backed by effective actions. Make reading Chhabra’s work one of yours.

— Bob Harris, Author of the International Bank of Bob

“Working to Restore is just the antidote to the doom and gloom we need for our time. This book can and should inspire a generation.”

—Maxine Bedat, Author of Unraveled: The Life and Death of A Garment

“Working to Restore presents a range of credible companies, older and younger, that dared to challenge the primacy of the financial bottom line and made social and ecological goals part of their DNA, with the aim of helping regenerate natural and societal resources degraded by business as usual. Considering the trouble our planet is in, effective engagement by the private sector is one of the few promising strategies left, and Chhabra gives us plenty of excellent examples for inspiration.”


—Gero Leson, vice president of special operations at Dr. Bronner’s and author of Honor Thy Label

“With wit and energy, Chhabra introduces us to an exciting new business landscape.”


—Kirkus Reviews

“If capitalism is to be transformed into the engine of inclusive, just and sustainable prosperity we need, a new generation of purpose-driven companies must lead the way. Chhabra’s compelling book tells the stories of some of the best of these game-changing businesses and is guaranteed to inspire.”

– Matthew Bishop, Former Business editor of The Economist

“Provides inspiring, yet tangible examples from a wide range of sectors of how to bring business back into balance, and how to value what matters most: ‘simplify and spend time immersed in life, not stuff.’” 

– Melissa Ho, Vice President, World Wildlife Fund

“This book should be Required reading for everyone.”

— Shilpa Shah, Cuyana

“Saving our planet always comes down to the same thing: talk less, do more. Business leaders have a responsibility to regenerate Earth and her communities by revolutionizing our economy—and Working to Restore tells the stories of exactly that.

Thoughtful, probing, solution-oriented, and hopeful, this beautiful book portrays everything we need in this time of planetary crisis to reverse our current downward spiral back up into a more virtuous circle.”


—Elizabeth Whitlow, executive director, Regenerative Organic Alliance

“As usual, entrepreneurs are leading the way to transformative approaches to what ails the world. Now, global leaders and corporate executives need to get on board—and they can start by reading Working to Restore.” 


 —Tom Post, former managing editor, Forbes Media

REGENERATIVE BUSINESS

Discover solutions. Businesses, across industries, are finding answers to common challenges.

  • Supply Chains.

  • Travel.

  • Food.

  • Energy.

  • Finance.

  • Health.

  • Fashion.

  • Waste.

ABOUT ESHA

Esha Chhabra has been a writer and journalist focused on global development, the environment, and business for over a decade. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, Economist, Guardian, Forbes, The Washington Post, Fast Company, Wired, and more. She goes beyond the greenwashing to determine if companies are actually pushing the needle. Her work has been supported by the UN Foundation and the Pulitzer Center in Washington, DC. Esha is a graduate of Georgetown University and the London School of Economics and Politics Science. Delhi-born, she calls Southern California home.

why i wrote this

This is a book about business-- about how to do business more thoughtfully, consciously, and equitably. In this increasingly divisive political and economic landscape, it’s become easy to point at what’s wrong with the world. Yet, in my journalism over the past decade, I’ve tried to focus on solutions: here’s the problem, but here’s a potential solution. That’s what this book is -- an exploration of what’s possible, a smattering of stories from around the world that are held by one common thread: a restorative approach to business.

It’s not a new idea, rather one that’s evolved. When I began my career, I started writing about social enterprise, the concept that business can have a social (or environmental) cause. It was a term that was coming into our everyday lexicon. A flock of people were asking: is this the sole purpose of business — to make money for a select few at the top? Though there had been talk about the shortcomings of our capitalistic system, these social entrepreneurs were operating rogue, building nimble institutions, and often so deeply entrenched in the problems they were trying to solve that they were not known to the public. 

Why the focus on business, instead of non-profits or social enterprises? Because it’s a powerhouse that can steer the economy, consumer behavior, and the impact all that has on Mother Earth in a different direction. It would be naive to say that business does not play a role in social and environmental problems: businesses employ people, source from remote corners of the globe, and move millions of people and cargo around daily. The business community can definitely put us on a different path. That is, if we look to support this type of business, which prizes restoration over growth.

So can we really build a more sustainable world, given that we’ve been talking about the same issues for the past three decades? Everyone I met and spoke with for this book was pretty fed up of that word. Sustain what? This imbalance? 

Instead, these entrepreneurs want to rewrite the rules of business to focus on transparency, simplicity, compassion, and equity. If these values were upheld, we could begin to restore the balance.

Let me be clear. There is no perfect solution. Humans create a footprint. It is in our nature to desire, lust, and run after what we do not have. Even many of companies highlighted in this book acknowledge that they’re producing a physical product; that will undoubtedly have a footprint. 

But can we do it without the injustices of the modern supply chain, without exploiting populations, without over-extracting resources, without damaging what we need to live itself, the Earth?

Yes, and we have to try.