Meg Hirshberg - For Better or For Work: A Survival Guide for Entrepreneurs and Their Families

In For Better or For Work, Meg Cadoux Hirshberg has given us one of the best descriptions of the entrepreneurial experience that I have ever read. It is quite simply a marvelous bookbeautifully written, unflinchingly honest, profoundly true.

Bo Burlingham, author, Small Giants: Companies That Choose
to Be Great Instead of Big

I loved this book! I wish Id had it when I was trying to start a business and raise my kids. Its a must-read for anyone trying to build a balanced, passionate life.

Eileen Fisher, Founder and Chief Creative Officer, Eileen Fisher

Meg Cadoux Hirshberg knows from whence she speaks. Using her own experiences and those of other real families, she brings to life those crazy start-up years, those crazy entrepreneurial personalities, and the crazy effects of both on families trying to live with it all. Meg offers excellent advice for surviving the madness.

Ben Cohen, Cofounder, Ben & Jerrys Ice Cream

Meg Cadoux Hirshberg hits the sweet spot where remorse and laughter meet. I grew up around the kind of entrepreneurial energy she describes, and now Im living it, so I know how exhilarating and frustrating the experience can be. While it is important to celebrate the accomplishments of those who turn dreams into brands, we must also recognize the hidden costs to their families and relationships. This book is a therapy session for founders families and for entrepreneurs themselves (assuming they can make time in their superhuman schedules to read it). As for me, I absolutely loved it!

Nell Newman, President, Newmans Own Organics

As a third-generation entrepreneur, I had a deep, emotional response to Meg Cadoux Hirshbergs For Better or For Work. Meg has been first mate on an entrepreneurial voyage for most of her adult life. Having lived the adventure, body and soul, she distills her experiences and the gentle wisdom gained from them to readers on their own entrepreneurial journeys, which are the hope of Americas economic and social future.

Jeff Swartz, former President and CEO, Timberland

Meg Cadoux Hirshberg presents an eminently practical guide to living with an entrepreneur without going insane. Written with authority and uncommon good sense, For Better or For Work champions entrepreneurial drive while helping protect the families who are the beneficiaries of that drive andat timesits victims.

Danny Meyer, CEO, Union Square Hospitality Group,
and author, Setting the Table: The Transforming Power
of Hospitality in Business

I found Meg Cadoux Hirshbergs story deeply moving. Her willingness to share the unvarnished, intimate details of living with a driven entrepreneur and his ever-struggling start-up is generous and heroic. Through her own story and others, she provides much-needed transparency into the complicated experience of company building and advice for achieving love and satisfaction in both the business and personal realms. For Better or For Work is a gift and an inspiration.

Paulette Cole, Cofounder, CEO, and Creative Director, ABC Home

Meg Hirshbergs book will become the What to Expect When Youre Expecting for entrepreneurs and their life partners. If my wife and I had had a copy before we launched Honest Tea, we would have been better prepared to cope with the trials and occasional absurdities of developing a struggling beverage enterprise, a family, and a marriage all at the same time.

Seth Goldman, President, TeaEO, and Cofounder, Honest Tea

For Better or For Work is a must-read for anyone engaged in or thinking about beginning the entrepreneurial journey. Funny and accessible, Meg Cadoux Hirshberg chronicles the trials, tribulations, and triumphs of building a business while building a family. The stories of her own experience in the entrepreneurial trenches and of other families chasing their dreams are unforgettable, and the lessons she draws are powerful. Bravo to Hirshberg for her candor and courage in mapping such vital, treacherous territory!

Nancy F. Koehn, James E. Robison Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School

The business is as much a part of an entrepreneurs family as any human member. That is a fact my own family has come to understand and accept in the course of my career. My wife, Nancy, and I highly recommend that all entrepreneurial families read For Better or For Work. Knowing the reality upfront, you can prepare for it with eyes wide open.

Ron Shaich, Founder and Executive Chairman, Panera Bread

Starting Nantucket Nectars was among the most intoxicating, fulfilling experiences of my life. For my wife, it was a long, isolating period in which she didnt see enough of me. For Better or For Work brilliantly captured so many truthswhen I read quotes aloud to my wife, she shook her head in recognition. All entrepreneurs can recall times when weve stared at our spouses without seeing them, absorbed, as we are, in the latest problems, challenges, or ideas. When we tell our stories before crowds we thank our teams, but rarely the people who suffered with us in our personal foxholes. Without our loved ones, who bear the brunt of our dreams and passions, entrepreneurs would be the loneliest people in the world. Hirshbergs book is a powerful reminder.

Tom First, Cofounder and former CEO, Nantucket Nectars, and Founder, OWATER

For Better or For Work should be required reading for the spouses and families of potential entrepreneurs as well as for entrepreneurs themselves, who rarely (if ever) appreciate the toll that entrepreneurship takes on their loved ones. Meg Hirshberg not only paints a concrete road map through many of the most important, but often-neglected, twists and turns on the entrepreneurial journey (every chapter has at least one punch in the gut realization), but also provides concrete recommendations for how to avoid the potholes in the road. Reading this book will help entrepreneurs and their families deal with the toughest parts of the journey, rather than being blindsided by them.

Noam Wasserman, Professor, Harvard Business School, and author, The Founders Dilemmas: Anticipating and Avoiding the Pitfalls That Can Sink a Startup

We celebrate entrepreneurs as the life blood of our economy, but Meg Hirshberg strips away the myths and misconceptions and paints a vivid picture of entrepreneurialism as it really isthe dreams and the sacrifices, the setbacks and the triumphs. As someone who started her own business years ago, I can attest to hard truths that are deftly embedded in For Better or For Work. This book is a gold mine of perspective and advice. It is a terrific investment for entrepreneurs or anyone living a mission-driven life.

Kelly Close, President, Close Concerns

This is a must-read for every would-be or current entrepreneur. Meg Hirshberg has lifted the veil on a little-discussed or noticed subjectwhat life is like for the loved ones of the entrepreneur building a company. The wild ride of entrepreneurship often translates into stomach-churning anxiety and confusion for the spouse and children. The challenge is that building a company and caring for a family are both intensely emotional, time-consuming, thrilling, and exhausting. Combining them well requires the insightful compass and map that Hirshberg provides. Her courageously honest, and deeply loving, book is an essential guide for those who want their families to not only survive, but to thrive, alongside their professional dreams.