What is the good life? Aristotle began the dialogue on this question more than 2000 years ago.  In today's inter-connected world, the question extends beyond the individual to what is good for a corporation or our society as a whole. Theodore Roosevelt Malloch, is a Yale professor and author of "Spiritual Enterprise: Doing Virtuous Business." He joined the Go to Market Show to discuss his book and the underlying challenges companies face in trying to do 'the right thing'.

For Malloch, and philosophers before him, the 'good life' is based on virtues. In today's world, where short-term thinking and greed seem to drive most business actions, companies are struggling to act in virtuous ways. But Malloch, through his studies, has found thousands of companies and leaders who day in and day out are making decisions that balance the need to maximize shareholder earnings with the needs of their employees, their community and the world.

The transparency of today's social media world certainly plays a role in exposing bad actions.  Hopefully, however, something deeper - and more sustainable is at play.  The virtues that Malloch identifies in his book include things like courage, leadership and discipline.  These are things that move us boldly forward to innovate and reach for the impossible.  Just as important are values like justice, compassion, humility and forgiveness.  These things bring out the best in the human nature, allowing us to work together to create something greater than ourselves.

Today's social world has also given attention to 'generous brands'.  These are companies that not only work in partnership with their employees and treat customers with respect, but also extend the goodwill to the greater world.  TOMS Shoes, for example was founded on a simple premise - for every pair purchased, TOMS gives a pair of shoes to a child in need.

The dividends of operating a business in a virtuous way goes beyond goodwill.  As part of his research, Malloch and his team compared sixty companies over a ten year period and found that those led by virtues outperformed the S&P 500 by 20% and their closest competitors by nearly 25%.  Proof that virtues and value can coexist.

Malloch's work extends beyond his book as he looks to bring light to this subject.  He has a PBS documentary and a scorecard for companies to see how they compare from a values-driven approach.  Visit tedmalloch.com for more information.