The Power of Unreasonable People: How Social Entrepreneurs Create Markets That Change the World

by Pamela Hartigan and John Elkington

Book Overview

Renowned playwright George Bernard Shaw once said "The reasonable man adapts himself to the world, the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man." By this definition, some of today's entrepreneurs are decidedly unreasonable--and have even been dubbed crazy. Yet as John Elkington and Pamela Hartigan argue in The Power of Unreasonable People, our very future may hinge...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1422104060
• ISBN13: 9781422104064
• Release Date: January 2008
• Publisher: Harvard Business Review Press
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 1.28 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.4" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

"How to" go for "Yes, and", in face of "Yes, but" nay sayers

Although saying nothing about the global economic meltdown currently in play, and the likelihood of its reducing the flow of capital to social entrepreneurs (unless/until governments provide the incentives and disincentives), the book's fundamental imperative of planning funding early, to scale up as the only way to achieve "sustainable" success, seems to me geared too strongly towards relying on traditional economic gains over equally if not more important social and environmental gains that might be equally sustainable without pre-planned outside funding. The book suggests that all successful social entrepreneurial ventures must "grow" to be "sustainable" (a contradiction in terms? a limit on the communal values of sustainability without replication?) seems to me to ignore the "Small is Beautiful" replication hypothesis that relies more on simple communication across communities and nations than on any imperative of large, centralized capital investments motivated by "profit while also doing good". In sum, a very useful book, hugely encouraging of my own unreasonable "social entrepreneurial" dream: local food distribution through a community grocery store, inventoried with no-interest loans by local bank, which funds CSA shares from local farmers at full share price, then when food is sold obtains local food carbon offset credits and sells them on the carbon exchange. The target market of the for profit store is the many families who cannot currently afford to pay in advance for CSA food shares, the so called Bottom of the Pyramid (BOP) consumers, those who thus cannot currently eat healthier "fresh local foods". Food could be priced nearly competitively vs. low-cost box-stores miles away as well as local commercial grocers selling high-carbon-footprint food items. That BOP sector has add-on potential for local-brand value-added food products, through social entrepreneurism of its own, and the opening of more and bigger bank accounts at the local bank. Win for the farmers, win for the consumers, win for the bank, win for the local commercial grocer when he/she begins to make shelf space available for direct purchase of local farmers' products, with its own carbon credits to cash in on for its own sales of local food products.

A study of the future

Unreasonable people are the ones who drive change. We can all agree that change is needed, and that change is occurring. Social Entrepreneurs such as the ones profiled in this book are driving the changes that will revolutionize our world in the future. The author explains how these innovators are finding ways to utilize market based principles and democratic ideals to improve communities. Ultimately, these entrepreneurs will lead the way into an untapped market of 4 billion low-income people who are just beginning to participate in the global economy. If you want to see what changes are coming, and to participate in the markets of the future, study these unreasonable social entrepreneurs.

Agenda for Solving the Most Important Problems with Improved Socially Focused Organizations

Most books about emerging, improved leadership and management methods capture high points among well known examples that haven't changed in years: Fortunately, The Power of Unreasonable People is a happy exception to that common weakness in being forward looking. As an example, the book ends with a call for filling in what's missing for social entrepreneurs to become an unstoppable force that solves the world's most important and persistent problems. Who should read this book? Anyone who wants to make a difference in producing a society that provides better opportunities and qualities of life for everyone. If you think you might want to start a social enterprise, you should be reading this book today. Why do I say these things? I recently sat through four days of conferences at a well-known university where the leading lights among its alumni described what they were doing as social entrepreneurs. I was appalled by what I heard. All but one organization had no larger vision than to slowly build a small effort from foundation grants. If you added up all of the likely results from these organizations, it wouldn't amount to much . . . except to warm the heart strings. Clearly, no major solution problems were going to be improved except in a few locales. What's more, the leading lights were almost totally unaware of other, more effective methods for how to accomplish similar things. They needed to read this book rather than attend those conferences. I started writing about social entrepreneurs in 2002, and it was hard then to find examples of superior operating models being used by entrepreneurs (as opposed to attention-getting methods that reporters like to write about) that were affecting over 10 million people. A lot has changed since then. Now I run into social entrepreneurs all the time through my teaching who are developing operating models that could affect hundreds of millions of people. I was pleased to find out about a number of social operating models in this book that could serve as useful examples to others in different fields. I intend to recommend this book to everyone I know who wants to learn about such new models. I also intend to read more about the most interesting of the many cases in this fine book. That's rare for me because I read a lot. I applaud the intensive research that is the basis for this book. Well done! The book does have one limitation that I think would be worth addressing in a future book that updates what is reported on here: There isn't enough discussion of how to develop better business models by assembling bit and pieces of what others have done in new ways. For example, the book correctly applauds (through different examples) the operating principles of open-source innovation, serving more people by eliminating harmful costs to provide offerings for 5-10 percent of the usual resources, employing local people with a good understanding of what's needed, measuring social performance as a way to inex

Extraordinary Businesses are Changing the World

Maybe it's just me, but I could not put this book down... You've undoubtedly heard this said about a novel, but of a business book? Never. Yet this is exactly how this book effected me. From cover to cover, I was completely captivated! This is the book for the pioneer and champion of alternate business models. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in the future of business, whether micro-or mega-business. Not only does it feature businesses already established in carrying out some traditionally unheard-of practices, practices that incorporate the human element into what has thus far been a fairly sterile business environment, it also brings hope and a very real sense of possibility that the future will see a different model, one that is more adapted to basic human need. Far from separating itself out as the model for micro-businesses that serve the poor, the new model suggests that basic human need is universal and that this need should be addressed through a new paradigm that recognizes, and caters to, the human element. Those of us who follow the non-traditional start-up business world will recognize some of the companies mentioned here, companies such as the groundbreaking Grameen Bank of Bangladesh and its founder, Mohammad Yunus. But several other companies of equal importance in changing the way business is done are covered as well, making for fascinating reading for the follower of the entreprenurial world, be s/he mere spectator or active participant in the business world to come. Get a copy of this book; it's inspiring! For progressive business owners it's a must read; for the small business start-up, it's the next best thing to a how-to guide. For both, it's a way to change the world. Unreasonable? I think not.

Remarkable, Inspiring, Instructive, a Total "Wow"

I became very enthusiastic about the term "social entrepreneurship" when I made the transition from reading about collective intelligence and citizen wisdom councils and wealth of networks, to understanding that there was a form of energy I first encountered in How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas, Updated Edition. This book is remarkable, all the more so for being the third in the series that started with Cannibals with Forks in 1997 that introduced the term "triple bottom line" (financial, social, environmental); and in 2001, The Chrysalis Economy: How Citizen CEOs and Corporations Can Fuse Values and Value Creation, anticipating the period of creative destruction coming from 2000-2030. I like this book very much, in part because after 20 years of thinking of myself as a reformist beating his head against the idiot secret world, I now realize I am a social entrepreneur who has turned his back on secrets and is focused on creating public intelligence in the public interest. The authors made me smile with their early explanation that most social entrepreneurs can be so unreasonable as to be called lunatic. This is precisely what happened to me when I published "E3i: Ethics, Ecology, Evolution, and Intelligence" in the Fall 1992 edition of the Whole Earth Review--for having the temerity to suggest that we should emphasize open sources of information instead of spying, and sharing instead of hoarding, I was told that Sandra Cruzman, the top woman at CIA at the time, said "this confirms Steele's place on the lunatic fringe." So forgive me for this sidebar, but this book speaks to me in very personal as well as socially meaningful terms, it resonates with me, and I strongly recommend it to anyone who wants to think about ways of doing good while doing well enough. I always look for whether authors are respecting those that came before or have made adjacent contributions, and on that score this book is completely satisfactory. It is also blessed by the authors' broad range of examples, carefully selected from what is clearly a universe they know better than anyone else. Citing George Bernard Shaw, they explain early on that "unreasonable people" are seen so for their seeking to abandon outmoded thoughts, mindsets, or practices. Amen, brother! This is not a feel-good book in intent, although it achieves that effect. It is a serious book that methodically reviews new business models, leadership styles, and thinking about value creation. It held my total attention over two evenings of reading. The authors offer esteem to social entrepreneurs with the observation that corporations are noticing and hiring such individuals for three reasons: 1. They see the future sooner than the average cubicle resident 2. They help retain talent by making the business challenging 3. They bring love and fun into the office environment The authors caution that social entrepreneurs fail more often than not, but they persi