Doing Good & Doing Well

Inspiring Helping Professionals to Become Leaders in Their Organizations

Non-Fiction - Business/Finance
206 Pages
Reviewed on 04/15/2024
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Author Biography

Michael Kaufman, MSW, PhD, is delighted to have published his first book, which is the culmination of his lessons and insights gleaned over a 30-year career in the helping professions, most notably social work and special education.

What makes his perspective so distinct is the unique blend he brings to all his professional endeavors, combining his “heart of a social worker” with “head of a business executive” to create an uncommon merger that leads companies, effects change, and improves lives.

With a bachelor’s degree in accounting, a master’s degree in social work, and a doctoral degree in clinical psychology, Mike currently directs the special education management and consulting company he co-founded in 2017. Prior to that, he launched the start-up of a now-blossoming teletherapy company and served at the helm of Specialized Education Services, Inc. (SESI)—first as COO, then CEO—one of the largest privatized schooling companies for students with special needs in the country.

A public speaker, college professor, and graduate of Harvard Business School’s Key Executives Program, Mike wanted to share his career path with fellow helping professionals to empower their own rise to organizational leadership, particularly by championing their natural proclivities and abilities. The result is "Doing Good & Doing Well: Inspiring Helping Professionals to Become Leaders in Their Organizations" (Rowman & Littlefield, 2023).

In all that Mike does, he lives by the Churchill motto “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.”

    Book Review

Reviewed by Jennie More for Readers' Favorite

Doing Good & Doing Well by Michael L. Kaufman, MSW, PhD, is a guide for helping professionals like teachers, therapists, social workers, doctors, and nurses to assume leadership roles in their organizations. As these professionals and others like them focus on the well-being of people, often working in under-resourced communities, they may be too humble to see themselves in business roles. This book guides anyone hoping to enter a management or leadership role where they will be responsible for people. Kaufman advises on what to expect in the boardroom, a day in the life of a CEO, hiring, mentoring, and losing people, and how to begin wrapping their minds around transforming from the role of a carer to the leader of an organization of carers.

Doing Good & Doing Well by Michael L. Kaufman, MSW, PhD, is a resourceful and insightful book and certainly a must-read for all professionals who want to or are about to become a manager or leader. I enjoyed the multiple examples of people-management scenarios where Kaufman explains personnel issues and how leaders dealt with each effectively, putting his advice into perspective. Few leadership or business books provide such practical guidance and real-life examples. It can be difficult for a professional to transition to management, but Kaufman details the new skills, experiences, pitfalls, and opportunities that professionals can expect. Kaufman has a wealth of knowledge about business and leadership, making this book one of a kind that will help professionals successfully transition from specialist to business leader roles.

Pia Stanard, PhD, LP

In a world with enough leaders who manage with laser-sharp focus on the bottom line, kindness, empathy, and compassion are often left at the bottom of the corporate ladder. This guide lights a practical and noble path for the heart to find its way to the top, and stay there. A must-read for any helper who wonders whether they can do more. Inspiring!

Mark Claypool, Education Company Owner

A fresh and much-needed guidebook on how to turn one’s passion for helping others into an opportunity to help many people instead of just a few.

The world needs a lot more social entrepreneurs who are willing to take the bold step of combining their caring hearts with the power of the free market. These two things are often assumed to be mutually exclusive, but Mike’s career and the information in this book prove that they can be combined with great success. It is full of wisdom earned the hard way and fills an information gap for like-minded social entrepreneurs.

Amanda Semetko, SLP.D., CCC-SLP

I had the pleasure of reading "Doing Good & Doing Well," a remarkable book written by Michael Kaufman. The book offers a fresh perspective on leadership through a collection of captivating personal stories that provide valuable lessons and inspiration.

A standout feature of this book is the author’s skillful incorporation of personal stories. Each narrative brings the principles of leadership to life, enabling readers to connect with the experience and the challenges faced by the author and the other individuals in the book.

I wholeheartedly recommend to professionals, aspiring leaders, and anyone interested in the art and science of leadership. It is a valuable resource that will undoubtedly leave a lasting impact on its readers.

Donna Marie Simon, MSW, LCSW, BCBA

In the book "Doing Good & Doing Well," Michael Kaufman uses real-life experience with accuracy, honesty, and heart, to remind us that our core values as helpers, and the skills we utilize to revitalize and empower others every day, give us the tools to be skillful, effective, and successful leaders and change-makers in the industry, or any industry. This book is a must-read for any person in a helping role that wants to truly be the change that makes a difference, from the first-year student to the seasoned professional. A must-have in any educational setting, supervision course, internship, or any place where championing and empowering people, and building humanity capital, is the goal. We can do well for ourselves, do good for our lives, be valued and humble helpers.

Robert Puopolo

An inspiring exhortation to those in the helping professions so inclined to use their innate abilities and natural tendencies to provide exactly the kind of leadership service organizations of all kinds, for-profit and non-profit, need for today’s complex and challenging world. In so doing, Kaufman provides a concise and practical education in management and leadership specifically geared toward helpers based on real-life examples, compelling vignettes, and straight talk—management and leadership focused on people to maximize outcomes and results. Well done!

Jennine Estes, MFT

This book provides a roadmap for developing the skills to effectively lead a team and is a poignant guide to expanding your professional career path outside of the consultation room. The author, Michael Kaufman, walks the reader through powerful ways to utilize your therapeutic skillset to optimize organizational performance. This is a must-read for any helping professional planning to grow their company through positive leadership.

Jonathan Jaffe, CEO Jaffe Communications

In Michael Kaufman’s breakthrough book, he expertly recognizes the many talents and boundless potential of his readers, and then masterfully demands more. Kaufman draws on all that is good from us, using those attributes to lead us on a path to better ourselves, with our hearts, our heads, and our souls. The author is overly generous with his ideas, strong in his convictions, and has the career experience as a compassionate social worker to tie it all together in a way that no other self-help book seems to be able to accomplish. Kaufman’s writing style is breezy, but poignant. Every word is deliberate, thoughtful, and meaningful. He draws you into this easy page-turner, providing usable life lessons at every step. Kaufman concludes with a challenge: “It is time to be the leader you were born to be.” After a few hundred pages of his prose, you want to do better. For him, and for you.

Maddie Hunter, Patient Advocate

"Doing Good & Doing Well" is a compelling, practical must-read for anyone in the helping professions who dreams of increasing their impact but wonders whether they have what it takes to lead others. Dr. Kaufman makes the case for how the building-block skills of those who devote themselves to the care of others correlates with what is required for effective leaders in today’s organizations. He is a coach, teacher, role model, and cheerleader in this guide for professionals who often undervalue their talents. Dr. Kaufman has done very well in writing this book for all of us “do-gooders” in whose hands the future of humane organizations lies.

Breann Carpenter, BSN, RN

It doesn’t matter what stage of “leadership” you’re at in your career to benefit from this great book that is extremely relatable and inspiring, with so many interesting real-life examples. As a helping professional, I’ve never felt more seen. It’s like the author read my mind on the daily thoughts and struggles of my profession, which I now see in a new light. Ten chapters in, and I’m ready to take on the world!