Description:
Busboys and Poets Books
welcomes Aaron Hurst
to sign and discuss The Purpose Economy: How Your Desire
for Impact, Personal Growth and Community is Changing the World
A series of shifts are happening in our economy: Millennials are
trading in conventional career paths to launch tech start-ups, start
small businesses that are rooted in local communities, or freelance
their expertise. We are sharing everything, from bikes and cars, to
extra rooms in our homes. We now create, buy and sell handcrafted
products in our local communities with ease.Â
Globally recognized entrepreneur and founder of Taproot Foundation,
Aaron Hurst, who helped create the $15 billion pro bono service market,
argues in his latest book,
The Purpose Economy: How Your Desire for Impact , Personal
Growth and Community is Changing the World
, that while these developments seem unrelated at first, taken together
they reveal a powerful pattern that points to purpose as the new driver
of the American economy.  Like the information economy, which
has driven innovation and economic growth until now, Hurst argues that
our new economic era is driven by connecting people to their purpose,
?It?s an economy where value lies in establishing purpose for employees
and customers?through serving needs greater than their own, enabling
personal growth and building community.? Â
Based on interviews with thousands of entrepreneurs, Hurst shows this
new era is already fueling demand for a whole host of products and
services and transforming how millennials view their careers. A new
breed of startups?like Etsy, Zaarly, Tough Mudder, Kickstarter, and
Airbnb?are finding new ways to create value by connecting us with our
local communities. At same time companies, like Tesla and Whole Foods,
are making the march from just appealing to affluent buyers to becoming
mainstream brands. Hurst calls these companies?along with the pioneering
entrepreneurs who founded them?the purpose economy?s
?taste-makers.? The full list is here.  Â
This book is at once a personal memoir of Aaron Hurst?s own awakening
as a purpose driven entrepreneur, when he left a well-paying tech job in
2001 to launch Taproot, creating a pathway for millions of professionals
and Fortune 500 companies to volunteer for nonprofits. It?s also a
blueprint for a new economic era that is transforming companies, markets
and our careers to better serve people and the world.  Â
Aaron Hurst
is a globally recognized entrepreneur and authority on social
innovation. He is the CEO of Imperative, a career development platform
that connects professionals to purpose in their work, and is the founder
and advisor to the Taproot Foundation, where he was the lead architect
in developing the $15 billion pro bono service market. A member of the
Nonprofit Times? "Power & Influence Top 50", Aaron is a regular
blogger for the Huffington Post, Stanford Social Innovation Review, and
LinkedIn. He lives in New York.
