Shameless Exploitation in Pursuit of the Common Good: The Madcap Business Adventure by the Truly Oddest Couple Horror Book Review

In 1978, Paul Newman and A. E. Hotchner made a foray into local gourmet shops bearing bottles of their homemade salad dressing. Freewheeling, irreverent entrepreneurs, they conceived of their venture as a great way to poke fun at the mundane method of traditional marketing. Much to their surprise, their products spurred a tidal wave of enthusiasm in the country’s supermarkets. What had started as a lark quickly escalated into a full-fledged business, the first company to mass-market all-natural foods, Newman’s Own became a major player in the food business. The company’s profits were donated to medical research, education, the environment, children’s programs, and to the creation of the eight “Hole in the Wall Gang” camps for children with serious illnesses.

Newman and Hotchner recount the picaresque saga of their unexpected success in SHAMELESS EXPLOITATION IN PURSUIT OF THE COMMON GOOD. In alternating voices, playing off each other in classic “Odd Couple” style, they describe how they systematically disregarded the advice of experts and relied instead on instinct, imagination, and common sense. They write about how they hurdled obstacle after obstacle, share their hilarious misadventures, and reveal their off-beat solutions to conventional problems. Even their approach to charity is decidedly different: Every year, they give away all the company’s profits and start over again. The results of this amazing generosity is brought to life in heartwarming stories about the children at their camps.

From the rare glimpses into Newman’s private life to A. E. Hotchner’s wonderfully told tales, SHAMELESS EXPLOITATION IN PURSUIT OF THE COMMON GOOD is the perfect nonmanagement book, at once playful, informative, and inspirational.