Rating: 3 stars
Not much of a dark Guinness fan– I prefer Harps Lager—it's always interesting to learn how successful companies started, especially when they’re started in 1759 and still thriving today. The Guinness story is an interesting one and one I plan to read more about. However, since this book is published by Thomas Nelson, expect the emphasis to be more on God and less on beer.
Before Guinness the beer could be successful, Guinness the family would have to make it so. For Arthur Guinness to found his brewery in Dublin, Ireland in 1759, on one of the most famous parcels of land (St. James’s Gate) and negotiate a lease for 9000 years, this was a man to watch. The Guinness’s were quite devout in their beliefs and many of them did go into the clergy, while others were incredibly saavy business men who managed to grow a business despite times of intense poverty, famine, war and plague.
Guinness workers earned wages 10-20 percent higher than the average, had full medical and dental, message service, subsidized meals, paid funeral expenses, education benefits, sport facilities, domestic training, a company doctor, private banks to borrow from to buy new homes, which allowed workers to get out of the squalor and deadly conditions they were living under. During war time Guinness paid the families half wages while their men were away fighting--and the perks didn't end there. Arthur Guinness took incredible care of his employees and their families in a time where technology and comforts barely existed. Guinness’s foresight and generosity puts most 21st century companies to shame.
On top of everything Guinness did for his people, he did much for Ireland, including founding the first Sunday schools, working to make better conditions for the poor and fighting against rampant alcoholism, which was highly attributed to the whiskey and other hard liquors being sold.
As the Guinness brand became more well-known, a strategizer working for the company was in the pub having a light-hearted argument with a friend about the fastest game bird. As there was no book to solve their dispute, two fact-checkers in London were hired to write the book, which would be handed out as a fun, promotional gimmick at pubs in Ireland and the UK. The book was called “The Guinness Book of Records”; published in 1954 as a handout and continues to be a best-seller today.
For those who want to read more about Guinness the beer, the author has graciously named a number of books that he recommends for this purpose. Mansfield, although his focus was God, does a great job of whetting the appetite for more information about this amazing family and their company. Brilliant!
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Hardcover: 304 pages
Publisher: Thomas Nelson (October 13, 2009)
ISBN-13: 978-1595552693