Excerpts and Endorsements
From the book
It is an old truism that a man is measured by the company he keeps. We believe this because we understand that what surrounds a man, what he keeps near and esteems as of value, is an extension of his inner life. This includes his friends. The kind of people he is drawn to, the brand of character he feels comfortable with, says much about the man he truly is.
If this is so, then it must also be true that a company should be measured by the culture it creates. Culture. It means “what is encouraged to grow,” the “behavior and ways of thinking that are inspired.” Despite what a company’s advertising may boast, aside from what mascot it adopts or the slogan it uses, it is what is inspired in the life of its people that is the most important indicator of how noble a venture that company may be.
This brings us to Guinness.
The Search
“A visitor to the Dublin of today finds a city that is a pleasant blend of European bustle, American marketing, and Irish grace. There are the soaring, ancient structures, of course: St. Patrick’s and Christ Church and Dublin Castle, where a modern government serves beneath Norman tow- ers. There is, also, the lapping River Liffey, the winding bloodstream of the city, which speaks of days gone by even as it frames streets adorned by Quicksilver, Donna Karan, and The Gap.”
“And always there is the thrilling, maddening jumble of the people: the Irish natives, the immigrants from Eastern Europe, the expatriates from the States, the eager workers from Africa, and the youth from every European nation who study at Trinity College or who simply want to master English as the language of their future plans.”
From the Book
Star of the County Down
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Stephen Mansfield is the New York Times bestselling author of The Faith of George W. Bush, The Search for God and Guinness, The Faith of Barack Obama, Lincoln’s Battle with God and Mansfield’s Book of Manly Men among other works of history and biography. Founder of The Mansfield Group, a research and publishing firm, Stephen is also a much in-demand speaker and consultant. He holds a doctorate in history and literature, and makes his home in Nashville, Tennessee and Washington, DC, with his wife, Beverly.