Running on Purpose
A business memoir by
Charles H. Moore Jr.
Book Summary
Charlie Moore never broke his stride after winning an Olympic gold medal in Helsinki in 1952. His professional life achievements feature notable accomplishments in business as well as successful leadership roles in college athletics, the arts, and, ultimately, in corporate philanthropy. At every twist is a consummate change-agent, enjoying the moving of mountains and celebrating a freedom that comes from personal conviction and belief in others.
In Running on Purpose, Moore has delivered a work that is not just a career memoir or an inspirational business book; it also champions family, resilience, persistence, the drive for results, strong communication, and other traits that can, and should, guide our personal and professional lives. Never one to stop moving, Moore further succeeds in elevating these experiences to a blueprint for societal change that pragmatically intertwines family, business, and the innovative spark that drives us all.
Here is a book passionately written for individuals willing to sprint to the finish line for things they believe in. It is a fitting companion to the principled person who leads with vision, perhaps moves among influential titans, and believes that traditional pathways must often be ignored in order to discover his or her truest potential.
Throughout are wonderful vignettes with notable figures of Olympics , business and culture including President Eisenhower, George Steinbrenner, Paul Newman and Roger Bannister
Table of Contents:
1. The Race of a Lifetime
An extraordinary culmination of efforts and the archetype of focused pursuit
2. A Pursuit Mindset
The art of minimizing the hesitation that invites doubt, inertia, and complication
3. Into the First Turn
Progressing from places of comfort to those of potential
4. Where It All Began
A life irrevocably shaped by places, characters, and experiences
5. Higher Learning
Learning to set goals and finding ways to meet them
6. Building a Family
A critical support and the basis of integrity and resiliency
7. Corporate Turnarounds
Navigating change and embracing diverse schools of thought
8. Academia and Athletics
Merging idealistic and community motivations with existing skills
9. Bringing the Arts into Business
Coming to understand the more subtle concerns of business values
10. The Power of the Network
Celebrating select lifelong relationships
11. Driving Corporate Charity to Impact
Working with business leaders to bring about lasting social change
12. My Call to Action: the License to Lead
How to work more consciously and intelligently toward sustainable value creation
About the authors...
Charles H. Moore, Jr., is a former businessman, philanthropist, Olympic gold medalist, and renowned champion of societal reform. After spending a large portion of his career with corporate turnarounds, he returned to his alma mater, Cornell, to serve as director of athletics for five years. He was then recruited to serve as executive director of the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy from the organization’s founding in 1999 until February 2013. He is a former member of the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, and a former public sector director of the United States Olympic Committee and a national board alumni member of the Smithsonian Institution. He is a 1947 cum laude graduate of Mercersburg Academy and received a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Cornell University in 1952.
