079e8d9e-4243-4b5d-9eec-f9564aef301a.thumbnail.jpg(Please welcome author David Bornstein in the comments -- jh)

Several years ago I had a chance to read and then review a new book called How to Change the World. I remember almost missing a plane because I was so caught up in reading it – and also knowing that I would never see the world or our possibilities the same way again. Today I'm honored to introduce that book's author, David Bornstein, to the FDL community so we can discuss the new edition of How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas.

As readers and bloggers we spend a lot of time looking at what is going wrong in our country – and in our world. David choses instead to tell us about some things that are going right. And then inspires us to take a new look at how we too can change the world.

He also makes quite a point – as a journalist – about how our current media environment (and perhaps even some of what we do on the blogs) works against progressive change:

Clearly, we face a cascade of challenges and dangers at home and abroad – and we need to know about them. But while we are inundated with stories of violence, corruption and incompetence we hear relatively little about the struggles and successes of people who are advancing positive changes. The ratio of problem –focused information to solution-focused information is completely out of balance. It distorts reality; it is dispiriting; and it deprives people of the knowledge they need to properly assess risks and recognize opportunities. It you were asked to list ten problems facing the world, how long would it take? Two minutes? How long would it take you to list ten solutions?

David’s work focuses on those solutions. Many firepups are familiar with the Grameen Bank and the exciting growth of microcredit. David was one of the first people to recognize the potential of Yunnis’ work and, as a young journalist, he went to Bengladesh and spent a year learning about Grameen – eventually writing The Price of a Dream: The Story of the Grameen Bank, which introduced this important innovation to a much wider audience.

And then he went around the world, spending time in small villages and large cities, meeting innovative “social entrepreneurs.” Just as modern business has been reshaped by entrepreneurial efforts – David went looking for the people who are bringing the same spirit and creativity to social concerns. Rather then rely on government and large institutions, social entrepreneurs see a problem in their own communities and find a way to bring solutions.

How to Change the World profiles nine of these social entrepreneurs in depth and each story, each person and effort provides models for us to learn from and hopefully act upon. I’m sure every reader has their own favorite but I have always been drawn to the section on Jeroo Billimoria.

Jeroo’s career as a social entrepreneur began when she gave her home phone number to some of the “railway children” in her hometown of Bombay. The children began to call – sometimes simply to hear a friendly voice – but often because they or their friends faced an emergency. As street children without families, they were on their own when they needed help. Jeroo’s response was to create Childline, a program where the kids themselves learn how to navigate social services – how to speak to a policeman on behalf of a friend, how to take a friend to the emergency room and get them treatment, how to help another child who is in an abusive situation. From a simple gesture of caring, Jeroo built an organization which convinced the Indian telecom firms to set up a toll free “Childline” number, developed a structure that empowers the very children it “serves” by training them to serve themselves and their friends – and which now works to provide similar assistance to children in 87 countries. Childline India itself has received more than 12 million calls.

Jeroo's story points us to several key features of social entrepreneurs - she initially reached out, not in an "institutional" way but on a very personal level, offering help just as one person to another. As she learned more of the problems the children faced, she took creative action, identifying direct ways to help - and she involved the children themselves in the solution. She moved beyond standard charitable approaches to invent a community response and then she worked to scale this response beyond the immediate group of children to the wider Indian and then global community.

Along with Jeroo, How to Change the World introduces us to Fabio Rosa of Brazil who brings solar powered electricity to rural communities, Erzsébet Szekeres of Hungary who built a new model for assisted living for the disabled, Vero Cordeiro of Brazil who is reforming healthcare for low income children, J.B. Schramm of the U.S. whose College Summit program expands access to college for low income students, Veronica Kohsa of South Africa who is revolutionizing and humanizing care for AIDS patients, Javed Abidi of India who organized a disability rights movement, and James Grant of the U.S. whose groundbreaking Child Survival Revolution has helped an estimated 25 million children.

How to Change the World not only tells us these inspiring stories, it also examines the ways that social entrepreneurs scale their projects from a neighborhood effort into larger collaborations, still citizen driven, to spread new solutions. Many of those profiled are supported by the Ashoka Foundation which identifies promising social entrepreneurs and then helps them to sustain and grow their efforts. Bill Drayton, founder of Ashoka and one of the people profiled in David's book has said:

Social entrepreneurs are not content just to give a fish, or teach how to fish. They will not rest until they have revolutionized the fishing industry.

The rise of social entreprenuers does not just revolutionize individual projects and causes but also calls into question some of our current models of governance and philanthropy. While we see Washington – and other world governments – refuse, fail or fumble attempts to improve the lives of the poor or underserved citizens, these innovative advocates find ways – primarily outside the political model – to solve real problems. These activists push people power to the limit - and show us that citizens can drive needed change rather than waiting for government to do the job. There’s an interesting interview with David on the ways social entrepreneurs challenge and evolve our existing civil framework here.

Successful social entrepreneurs have a great deal in common with the open source, bottom up, style that we celebrate in the activism of Blue America and FDL – and that so many firepups exemplify in their own advocacy work. The book's discussions of the management approaches and analysis that Ashoka brings to their Fellows are also quite helpful for those of us who are working to build a progressive infrastructure.

Before reading David’s book, I always saw a tension between working on big picture issues and the call of doing the day to day, one on one work that changes individual lives. How to Change the World shows us that there is no need to choose between these – that instead, by working on one specific problem in our very own communities, we can uncover the models and spirit which drive much broader changes.

In a lovely essay David wrote recently on Pursuing Happiness he says of the people he has profiled, “Just having the opportunity to write their stories has, in turn, made me feel more alive.” Reading David’s book will make you feel more alive – what better way to spend the holidays than rediscovering the potential we each have to Change the World.