The Power of Social Innovation: How Civic Entrepreneurs Ignite Community Networks for Good

Full citation: Stephen Goldsmith, with Gigi Georges and Tim Glynn Burke. 2010. The Power of Social Innovation: How Civic Entrepreneurs Ignite Community Networks for Good. New York, Jossey Bass, an Imprint of Wiley.

Thursday, January 05, 2012

Contributed by James Toscano

With our political and economic institutions seemingly overburdened and incapable of true progress, along comes a book like this offering insight and hope through emphasis on civic entrepreneurship. One could call this splendid volume the updating and contemporary operationalization of the American Dream—one with a framework of innovation for actionable, responsible, creative social change.

In The Power of Social Innovation: How Civic Entrepreneurs Ignite Community Networks for Good, Goldsmith brings a rich and varied background to the task. Currently the Daniel Paul Professor of Government at Harvard's Kennedy School, Goldsmith and his two colleagues deliver a menu based on his own experience, interviews, case studies and keen insights into successful processes covering all sectors of the society.

Goldsmith urges cross-sector leadership for the "catalytic energy to produce civic progress in a community." Calling for increased entrepreneurship, the book posits a ways of going about social entrepreneurship--the identification and challenge of an unjust condition in society.

After an opening tour de force on igniting civic progress, the book delineates the need to change social systems, using innovation as the catalytic ingredient. In a process of intentional  discovery of all of the forces needed for real change, the book puts together the ingredients needed for effective interventions.

Calling for open sourcing through such devices as breaking down protectionist barriers and monopolies on services as well as creating a level playing field for new and outside providers of specific services,  then actively bringing in innovators to force cultural change, the book offers numerous examples of success in these areas.

Emphasizing the need to have measurable results for any service, the authors spell out a number of procedural changes for introduction and implementation of sustainable system change and impact.

The need to build citizen support, to "animate" it, is explored in its many variations, all for the objectives of raising expectations and giving more individual responsibility through ability to make choices among competing programs.

Observing that the civic entrepreneur often sees opportunity where others see liability, the authors spell out methods and processes to turn risk into reward as well as calculating "cascading" return on investment.

Overall, the book concludes with optimistic encouragement for the actions recommended so that the society continues to make positive differences in people's lives and overall community well-being, ultimately having each of us an active, innovative citizen rather than a client of the state.

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