NextBillion.net - Development Through Enterprise - The Power of Unreasonable People: How Social Entrepreneurs Create Markets That Change the World - Comments

Update: my review of The

Rob Katz — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 17:36:21 -0500

Update: my review of The Power of Unreasonable People will be posted tomorrow, Wednesday, and not today as previously promised. Stay tuned...

Being unreasonable myself....

Tom Canavan — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 15:21:22 -0500

Did you know that in every State in this Union there is a debate going on about what to do with ex offenders, victims of disasters and just plain poor people? There is simultaneously a debate going on in the very same states about "tear downs" demolitions, blighted buildings and eminent domain issues. Thirdly there is debates going on about how to raise tax money to take care of these other two issues? So being the unreasonable person that I am I scream, WAKE UP! PUT ALL THREE TOGETHER YOU PEOPLE! Use some small percentage of tax money to hire underprivileged people to recycle (dismantle and move them) the houses that you want thrown away and make homeowners out of them. It's much easier than you think. If you want I'll come to you and get this new industry started. Don't tell me it won't work because I've done it before. Your problem is your answer. Sheesh! The Benefactor Project.com

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

Rob Katz — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 09:11:35 -0500

An important new book hits shelves (and Amazon wish lists) today. The Power of Unreasonable People: How Social Entrepreneurs Create Markets That Change the World is co-authored by John Elkington (of SustainAbility) and Pamela Hartigan (of the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship).

I received an advance copy of the book, and am working on a comprehensive review for NextBillion.net to be posted later today. My first impression: the authors have done a good job blending the stories of social entrepreneurs into a robust analytical framework that helps take the reader beyond the specifics of a particular enterprise. In that sense, The Power of Unreasonable People feels a bit like a sequel to David Bornstein's groundbreaking book, How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas. First published in 2004, Bornstein's book created the same sort of momentum among the social entrepreneurship set as C.K. Prahalad's The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid did for the BoP community around the same time.

The Power of Unreasonable People deserves much more than a simple comparison, however. My full review will be up later; in the mean time, check out what others have to say:

Press Release
The Financial Times
The Economist