Presales Now Open: The Profitable Good — a classroom-ready playbook for teaching sustainable entrepreneurship
- Tamara Stenn
- 7 hours ago
- 3 min read
I’m excited to announce that presales are officially open for my new book, The Profitable Good: A Bold Playbook for Sustainable Business Growth—a highly practical, hands-on academic text designed for entrepreneurship, sustainability, and international development courses.
This isn’t a “read-it-and-nod” book. It’s built for applied learning: students don’t just learn sustainability concepts—they practice them through tools, exercises, and real decision-making frameworks. The book introduces foundational models like the Business Model Canvas, the Four Ps of Sustainability (People, Planet, Profit, Purpose), the Four Pillars of Fair Trade, and the Four Lenses of Sustainability (Resources, Health, Policy, Exchange).
It also leans into learning-by-doing with interactive exercises, relatable examples (including a lemonade stand venture), and classroom-friendly resources like downloadable templates and quizzes—so you can teach sustainability as a strategic advantage, not just a moral add-on.
Why this works so well in entrepreneurship and development courses:
If you teach entrepreneurship, social enterprise, sustainable business, or economic development, you’ve probably seen the same challenge I have:
Students can discuss sustainability… but they struggle to operationalize it.
This book helps them cross that bridge by guiding them to:
Design and improve ventures using structured sustainability analysis
Build sustainability directly into operations, sales, partnerships, and financial models
Practice the kinds of trade-off thinking (and “systems thinking”) that real founders, investors, and development leaders face
It’s ideal for:
Undergraduate entrepreneurship and innovation
MBA / MS programs in sustainability, social impact, and strategy
Social entrepreneurship and international development electives
Experiential learning, project-based, and community-engaged courses
Even better together: the Sustainability Lens Game + book = applied, game-based, AI-enhanced pedagogy
One of the things that makes this launch especially fun is how seamlessly the book aligns with the Sustainability Lens Game—including an AI-enhanced experience.
The game uses four analytical lenses—Resources, Health, Exchange, and Policy—to help learners navigate complex systems and make better sustainability decisions.
And with the newer AI-enhanced approach, it can function like a “coach” that provides:
Individualized support and tailored prompts
Responsive feedback
Help identifying SDG connections
Guided exploration of trade-offs and outcomes
The Sustainability Lens Game site describes this AI-enhanced experience as something you can run with a card deck and a smartphone, making it surprisingly easy to deploy in real classrooms.
It’s also flexible: the AI-enhanced game can be used in multiple class formats (from quick sessions to longer intensives).
A simple way to teach with this (plug-and-play)
Here are a few classroom-friendly ways professors are likely to use the book + game together:
1) The “Build a venture” arc (2–4 weeks)
Students generate an idea, test it with the Four Lenses, iterate, then pitch
2) The “Upgrade a real organization” arc (2–6 weeks)
Students take an existing business/nonprofit and redesign the model for sustainable growth
3) The “Development lens” arc (1–3 weeks)
Students apply the lenses + SDGs to a sector challenge (food systems, tourism, energy, textiles, etc.), then propose a venture or policy-adjacent solution
Presale is open now
If you’re an entrepreneurship or development professor looking for a text that is practical, classroom-ready, and built for applied learning, I’d love for you to be among the earliest adopters. https://www.vibrantpublishers.com/products/the-profitable-good-a-bold-playbook-for-sustainable-business-growth