Posts tagged socent book club

SocEnt Book Club Review: ‘Madlands’ by Anna Rose

Madlands: A Journey to Change the Mind of a Climate Sceptic
by Anna Rose 

I’ll admit it. I started reading this book with a bit of scepticism. Not because I disagree with the concept of climate change—far from it—but because I wasn’t sure how a book about the journey to change someone’s mind could in any way be meshed coherently with climate theory.

My first impressions of the book were good. The writing style was fluid and the different terms were explained in an understandable, non-patronizing way (which is a problem for a lot of reads in this general genre). I wasn’t prepared for the semi-autobiographical nature of the book, though perhaps I should have been. It was nice to break from climate theory every now and then, though I felt a lot of it was used as filler, but again, that’s not necessarily a bad thing! In fact, a number of instances (such as planning a wedding using Google docs) had me actually chuckling, and let me engage with the author.

The use of graphs (which I had been looking forward to) was meshed into the book fairly well. Due to the flow of writing, the graphs were often on different pages to the place they had been referenced from—usually also after the story had moved forward slightly. I felt that while they were visually pleasing as a method to break the text, they could have—for the most part—all been put in an index in the back of the book. I did find myself actually studying the graphs and charts, however, which shows how engaging (okay okay, and simple enough for even me to understand) they were.

I just want to talk very briefly about who this book is aimed at. Primarily because I’m not sure of the answer myself. In a lot of ways, the book seems to appeal to a wide variety of people, all of which can be huddled together under the wide heading of ‘people interested in climate change, whether they believe in it or not’. Do I think the book was trying to target too wide an audience? Not really—its seeming determination to have a wide appeal is probably the reason the flow of writing was made to be so accessible (and the more scientific terms were explained so well).

Overall, I really liked this book. The writing style was nice, the facts were put forward in a very interesting way, and for the most part, the different elements of data, journey, and biography were weaved together in a complementary, coherent manner. As I mentioned before, I don’t feel as though I could describe an ‘ideal reader’ for this title, but I would certainly recommend it to anyone who is interested in both Climate Change and the people who are passionate about what it’s doing to our planet.

Sara Slack

A self confessed tea-and-book addict, I’ve always been a ‘Jack of all Trades’. My hobbies range from cycling, to woodworking and participating within the theatre. My passion for the written word led not only to postgraduate degree in English, but also to becoming the volunteer director of the non-profit publishing house Inspired Quill. I love my day job (shockhorror!), where I work as the Marketing Manager for the ethical investment Platform ‘Ethex’, here in the UK. (I also hold the belief that ‘to-do’ lists breed when you’re not looking).

SocEnt Book Club—Madlands: A Journey to Change the Mind of a Climate Sceptic

The month of July brings with it not only a new book, but a new reviewer as well! My name’s Sara, and I’m your reviewer for this month’s SocEnt Book Club read along.

Madlands: A Journey To Change The Mind Of A Climate Sceptic, by Anna Rose, tells the (true) story of a twenty-something environmentalist and a retired right-wing finance minister. The novel outlines Anna and Nick’s journey around the world as they challenge one another’s views about climate change, provoking each other to confront previous assumptions about our responsibilities as individuals in a rapidly changing world.

This novel is written in first-person, from Anna’s point of view, and (at a very brief first glance) even includes some tables and data she presented to Nick sometime along their journey. I’m certainly looking forward to seeing how all the facts and figures integrate within the narrative of the book.

If you have any interest in climate change or our responsibility toward our planet (from either side of the fence, even!), please pick up a copy of this book, read along, and let us know your thoughts on Twitter or Facebook. My brief flick-through the pages has revealed some very interesting paragraphs (I’m not cheating, I promise!), and I have a gut feeling that the contents of this book could cause some lively debate, so don’t miss out!

About the Author: Anna Rose is the co-founder of the Australia Youth Climate Coalition, a movement of over 70,000 young people working to solve climate change. She is joint recipient of the 2009 Environment Minister’s Young Environmentalist of the Year Award, and a Fellow of the International Youth Foundation. The Sydney Morning Herald named her one of Sydney’s most influential people (2009), and one of the top five most powerful grassroots organizers in New South Wales (2011).

Book Availability:

Melbourne University Press

Sara Slack

A self confessed tea-and-book addict, I’ve always been a ‘Jack of all Trades’. My hobbies range from cycling, to woodworking and participating within the theatre. My passion for the written word led not only to postgraduate degree in English, but also to becoming the volunteer director of the non-profit publishing house Inspired Quill. I love my day job (shockhorror!), where I work as the Marketing Manager for the ethical investment Platform ‘Ethex’, here in the UK. (I also hold the belief that ‘to-do’ lists breed when you’re not looking).

SocEnt Book Club: Call with Deborah Frieze on Wednesday

By Brooke Parker

StartSomeGood’s SocEnt Book Club is pleased to host Deborah Frieze, co-author of Walk Out Walk On: A Learning Journey Into Communities Daring to Live in the Future Now on our monthly book club conference call. Our call will be held next Wednesday, March 7^th at 2 pm PST/5 pm EST.

Are you interested in creating social good in your community, but you’re concerned about how or if you can actually make lasting changes? Join the call to hear Deborah discuss how you already possess everything you need to start some good! You will have the opportunity to ask Deborah questions about her book and about the incredible change that happens when you stop feeling limited by your financial situation, lack of power, and few connections to outside aid, and make the choice to embrace the resources you have and your community to take action immediately. Walk Out Walk On affirms Margaret Mead’s quote, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” After the call you will feel inspired and empowered, and you will recognize that you are an agent of social change just as you are. Her book, written with Margaret Wheatley, was announced on our blog earlier this month.

Deborah succeeded Margaret Wheately as the co-president of The Berkana Institute (http://www.berkana.org/). However, in 2009, The Berkana Institute was declared a self-organizing system, so now she serves as a board member. The fundamental premise behind the Berkana Institute is “whatever the problem, community is the answer”. Deborah is currently leading numerous projects for The Berkana Institute, including, Feeding Ourselves Sustainably, Swaraj University, and several Sharing Our Learning projects. Deborah is an advocate of trans-local learning, a concept that encourages sharing solutions around the world, but modifying them based on the culture and experiences of a particular community. Learn more about Deborah at: www.deborahfrieze.com.

To RSVP and for information on joining Wednesday’s free conference call, please email Aaron(at)startsomegood.com

SocEnt Bookclub: Walk Out Walk On

We are excited to announce the February installment of our book club, Walk Out Walk On by Margaret Wheatley and Deborah Frieze.Walk Out Walk On uses seven case studies to show how communities can ‘walk out’ by shifting their practices and ‘walk on’ by adopting new ones that are more healthy.

Although the themes of changing current practices and adapting to the modern, connected world are themes we’ve dealt with in previous book club books, Walk Out Walk On’s focus on communities is unique and will be beneficial to any social entrepreneur trying to mobilize community support to change existing practices.

A lively writing style and amazing photographs make Walk Out Walk On a very readable collection of case studies. The authors do a great job connecting the lessons they learn from each case study to larger lessons about the ways communities function and the ways they can change.

About the authors: Margaret Wheatley is the co-founder and President Emerita of the Berkana Institute. She has worked with leaders and organizations for almost 40 years on accomplishing their work in chatoic times. She has also published several best-selling books, most recently Perseverance in 2010.

Deborah Frieze walked out from an executive job 10 years ago because she became frustrated with the business culture. She joined the Berkana Institute full time in 2004 after meeting Margaret Wheatley. She is a board member at Berkana and leads several Berkana projects. For more information visit www.deborahfrieze.com.

Want to win a free copy of Walk Out Walk On? Visit our facebook page and respond to this question on our wall: When have you seen a whole community mobilize to affect social change?

If you are reading along with us use #socentbc on Twitter to share your thoughts. If you are interesting in joining our team of reviewers or in having your book featured please contact Aaron at Aaron(at)startsomegood.com.

Book Review: Shift and Reset

The pace of technological change in our society is exciting and dizzying for organizations. Every person has a different opinion about social media and the rapidly increasing amount of information available on the Internet: what do organizations need to do in this new environment? How is the relationship between organizations and consumers affected? What do the changes mean for cause-based organizations?

Although every expert has a different opinion about the direction these changes are pushing us, everyone can agree that things are changing fast. Brian Reich’s Shift and Reset: Strategies for Addressing Serious Issues in a Connected Society reflects the urgency to change for organizations; you don’t have time to wait a year or two to see how the changes manifest themselves. We talked to Brian last week and asked him some questions. He focused his vast knowledge on problems facing social entrepreneurs:

What does it mean for a business to shift and reset?

Shifting and resetting are two separate parts.

To shift, businesses really need to acknowledge that what they’re doing isn’t working anymore, the way we approach addressing serious issues, the way we approach business, the way we communicate, the way we educate and mobilize audiences, pretty much everything has changed as a result of the massive and disruptive influence that the internet and technology are having on society.

Once you do that you start to realize that our organizations aren’t really well positioned to do that work. You have to break down your own structure and rebuild it. The resetting part is about the function, the approach, the organizational plan for how we go about dealing with serious issues.

What factors in our society are forcing businesses to shift and reset?

We live in a connected society, which presents both opportunities and challenges. Thanks to the internet and technology and all the emerging media platforms out there, the speed at which information travels is much greater, the access to diverse peoples and diverse points of view, not to mention data, is so much greater than it was a couple of years ago that I don’t think we really know what is going on. I think we’re focusing on the wrong things, and that necessitates this need to shift and reset. The connected society creates the need for this hugs change but it also creates opportunity. Now that we’re connected we have the ability to apply intelligence and pursue solutions in ways that we never had available to us before.

Why is it so hard for some businesses to embrace the changes that you argue are so necessary?

As my chemistry teacher in high school used to say, it’s easier to sit on a couch than it is to go running. Change is difficult, and it’s made difficult because the things that we reward as success in our society today are not necessarily in all cases indicating that we’re not getting the job done. If you’re looking at a business for example, one of the only metrics for success is did that organization make money? Most of these major corporations who are raising money and large organizations that are addressing serious issues, they’re still bringing in the dollars. When you take a larger view, however, when you start to say, “is my job just to raise money or is my job to eradicate hunger? Is my job to run a successful business or is my job to build equal relationships with individuals so when a new challenge comes along or a new opportunity presents itself we’re able to do more with that opportunity than the simple transactional one that we had before.” Some of these things like money are lagging indicators, and if we’re still making money, why should we change? Well, because change happens quickly, and if we’re not in a position to adapt quickly the likelihood that we recover if things shifted under our feet are very small, and things are shifting all the time.

What lessons from corporations can nonprofits and social entrepreneurs apply to their own organizations?

Nonprofit is a tax status, not a way of operating or a mindset. The whole idea of social entrepreneurship, the whole idea of triple bottom lines, is the idea that you can have an impact on society and still be a successful organization. Until organizations of all stripes start to recognize that the metrics of success are changing and more complicated, and that there are still hard metrics you’re going to have to apply to any situation, we’re going to be in trouble. One of the key lessons any organization needs to take from business is the discipline of operation. Social entrepreneurs need to measure everything they do against the goals they’re trying to achieve in the same way a corporation measures everything it does by it’s bottom line. Another lesson they can take from the market is that if you’re failing, get out of the way. It’s a tough lesson, but we have a lot of organizations that are failing and yet are given a pass because they’re doing “good.” They’re not doing good unless they’re accomplishing their mission.

How can I make my network feel connected to my mission if my mission is just to sell a product?

First of all I wouldn’t disparage yourself and think that selling a product is not as worthy a task as clothing the naked underprivileged children in the developing world. We all have a role to play and we all have things we need to accomplish and in a connected society, selling a product has an influence on the way people think and act on a larger scale. Don’t undersell the importance of the value of even the simplest of activities. I think the most important thing you can do in any organization is humanize and personalize the activity that you’re asking people to take in the context of their lives. You have to make me understand how your product fits into my life, how it makes my life easier. You need to help teach me and support me in the effort to purchase that product, to use that product, to repair the product if it fails, because my expectations are going to be set by whatever you say. You really have to personalize the experience of buying your product. Much of what I talk about in the book is creating content and a lot of your job is to make people see how your product fits into the patterns that already exist in their lives in a valuable role. For me, that’s about explaining, it’s about teaching, it’s about providing the context between whatever you’re selling and whatever else is happening in the world.

If I shift and reset, will there be growing pains?

Yes, and that would probably be the number one reason why most people do not try to shift and reset. But I think if you can go beyond that and shift your thinking, almost anything is going to be possible. If you have the right mindset, you can actually look at those growing pains as opportunities to grow and experiment and try new things. You have to say that if what I was doing wasn’t working, so almost anything is going to be better, and I’m probably going to make mistakes, but I’m going to take the next step and embrace the growing pains.

The thrust of Shift and Reset will resonate strongly with anyone thinking about starting a venture on StartSomeGood. If you have more questions for Brian you can reach him on Twitter: @brianreich. Also, check out his website, shiftandreset.com.