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Notable Books
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In each issue,we identify and briefly describe a small
number of books that are insightful about consequential
matters and offer new ways of thinking strategically
about the nonprofit world.
Thomas L. Friedman
(Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2006, 488 + vii pp, $27.5)
Thomas Friedman's analysis of the twenty-first century
is a best-seller for good reason: it is a remarkably
clear-headed and accessible overview of the impact
of the confusing and complex array of recent events,
trends and circumstances and what they mean for
individuals, organizations and countries. The book
is a handy, but reliable and insightful, guide to what
Friedman deftly characterizes as the "flattening" of
the globe.
A New York Times Pulitzer-prize winning reporter
and author, Friedman starts out by identifying "ten
forces that flattened the world", a convenient but
sobering overview of the extraordinary confluence
of events and innovations within the short span of
almost two decades: the fall of the Berlin Wall and
Windows going up in November 1989; Netscape
going public in August 1995; the introduction of
work flow software in the mid-1990s; the rise of selforganizing
collaborative communities also in the
mid-1990s; Y2K and outsourcing to India; China
joining the World Trade Organization in December
2001 which gave a significant boost to "off-shoring";
the rise of the supply-chain at such companies as
Wal-Mart; "in-sourcing", a new form of collaboration
and creating value horizontally in which UPS, among
others, provides services for other corporations
under their name; the emergence of Google and ever
increasingly powerful Web-based search capacities;
and the arrival of digital wireless mobile devices (or
"the steroids" as Friedman calls them). Whew!
It's hard to remember the sequencing of these forces,
let alone how quickly they emerged or to fathom
the exponential power of their interrelatedness. But
it is not Friedman's aim to provide a definitive
history or theory of global change. Rather, his
strength is providing a fast-paced review of our
extraordinary recent history through his signature
style of interesting anecdotes, zippy language and
succinct interpretation.
Friedman goes on to suggest that a "triple convergence"
of factors adds up to a perfect storm of revolutionary
economic change. The first is the "creation
of a global, Web-enabled playing field that allows for
multiple forms of collaboration…in real time, without
regard to geography, distance or, in the near future,
even language." The second is the emergence of
new forms of business and cooperation that utilize
the platform created by the Web that are less about
command and control and more about connecting
and collaborating horizontally. The third is the entry of
3 billion new people into the new, more horizontal
playing field, primarily from China, India and other
societies that had been only marginal participants in
the earlier world economic system.
As a result of this triple convergence, Friedman
argues that "global collaboration and competition —
between individuals and individuals, companies and
individuals, companies and companies and companies
and customers — have been made cheaper, easier,
more friction-free and more productive for more
people from more corners of the earth than at any
time in the history of the world" — a view that is
perhaps hyperbolic, but undoubtedly accurate.
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Nonprofits must be alert and
open to the increasingly inclusive,
frictionless and transparent
world ever more available to
everyone around the globe. |
The impact of "the flattening world" on nonprofits
has been and will continue to be profound, even
though many nonprofits have yet to be aware of the
full measure of transformation that is happening
under their noses. It's not sufficient for a nonprofit
to merely have a good website — that's far too passive.
It's not sufficient to have a strong information systems
platform — that's simply the platform. It's not
sufficient to Google — that's just a convenient way
to retrieve and sort increasing masses of available
information. Like corporations (and governments),
nonprofits need to "glocalize", maintaining local
presence and focus while understanding and incorporating
a global perspective. They must be alert
and open to the increasingly inclusive, frictionless
and transparent world that is ever more available to
everyone around the globe. And they must actively,
and enthusiastically, play a part in that world even
though it will probably mean they must reinvent
themselves to do so.
To listen to some of the critics, though, you
would think that globalization was only
about the spread of crass capitalism, global
brands, fast food, and consumer values
all crowding out warm, cozy, thriving local
communities, industries, and cultures.…
But globalization is not simply about the
spread of capitalism of markets or enhanced
trade. It is not an exclusively economic
phenomenon and its impact is not exclusively
economic. It is a much broader, deeper,
and more complex phenomenon, involving
new forms of communication and innovation.
The flattening of the world is about the
creation of a global platform for multiple
forms of sharing work, knowledge, and
entertainment.Worrying about the pulverizing
effects of globalization is very
legitimate, indeed very important, but
ignoring its ability also to empower
individuals and enrich our cultural cornucopia
misses its potentially positive
effects on human freedom and diversity…
The iron law of globalization is very
simple: If you think it is all good, or you
think it is all bad, you don't get it.
Globalization has empowering and disempowering,
homogenizing and particularizing,
democratizing and authoritarian tendencies
all built into it. It is about the global
market, but it is also about the Internet
and Google.
— Thomas L. Friedman, The World Is Flat
David Nasaw
(The Penguin Press, 2006, 878+xiv pp, $35.00)
Having built America's greatest fortune on iron, steel
and muscle, Andrew Carnegie retired from active
involvement in business in 1901 to begin a second
career as the first modern philanthropist. As engagingly
chronicled in David Nasaw's new biography,
the "Star-Spangled Scotsman's" achievements as a
philanthropist remain astonishing a century later: he
founded the predecessor of a major university,
Carnegie-Mellon; endowed the Carnegie Institution;
funded museums and concert halls; created pension
systems for teachers that evolved into TIAA-CREF;
provided scholarships for the poor; most famously,
provided funds to build nearly 3,000 free libraries
worldwide; and funded more than two dozen major
American think tanks, foundations and other institutions,
all of which continue to confer significant
benefits on society.
It is instructive in this current Age of Riches to study
the father of modern philanthropy, who made his
riches in the Gilded Age.
Born of modest means, Carnegie emigrated from
Scotland to western Pennsylvania in 1848 at the age
of 13 and with precocious speed became well connected
and well positioned, eventually controlling a
major portion of the US steel business and becoming
the wealthiest individual in America. Carnegie
moved to New York City in 1901 and laid out his
essential principles of business and philanthropy in
The Gospel of Wealth that "he who dies rich dies
thus disgraced." He was to retain this remarkably
consistent vision for his remaining 29 years and
urged the rich to give away their wealth during
their lifetimes and in doing so to apply the same
entrepreneurial skills and focus that they used in its
accumulation. Devoting the remainder of his life to
giving away his fortune, he quickly realized the
necessity of systematizing what he came to call
"industrial philanthropy."
His highly organized office staff not only distributed
the funds (in periodic, not lump-sum payments),
but also performed research and oversaw the creation
of hundreds of boards and advisory panels.
With enormous funds at hand, Carnegie never ran
out of money and was, at times, frustrated in his
inability to give it all away. As a businessman,
Carnegie had bedeviled his excellent managers
with orders and suggestions, but as a philanthropist,
he proved to be quite different: once he
had provided money and ensured responsible
leadership for institutions, he largely stayed out of
their affairs.
A professor of history at City University of New
York, Nasaw draws a portrait of a man who loved
his adopted country, was acutely aware of how to
thrive within its financial, political and social
precincts, but preferred action to deliberation —
and had a cultural, educational and social impact
still felt today. Carnegie's philanthropic techniques
became the template for generations of modern
grant-making — as did his interest and attention to
self-promotion.
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Foundations can make their
greatest contribution as a driver
of change—not as a catalyst
or funder. |
Yet the terrible irony of Carnegie was his unceasing
ambition to become even wealthier so that he
could give away ever larger amounts of money.
Taking advantage of business practices that are not
available today — or even considered appropriate —
he was ruthless in accumulating wealth by justifying
the good he could do in distributing it. While
today's wealthy are not nearly as rapacious as
Carnegie and his fellow Gilded Age moguls, there
is the continuing irony of how today's global economy
is generating unparalleled levels of wealth,
much of which is seeking new forms and types of philanthropic
outlets to meet pressing social needs, while
simultaneously creating a startlingly wide divergence
between the extremely wealthy and everyone else.
Joel L. Fleishman
(PublicAffairs, 2007, 357 + xxiv pp, $27.95)
Warren Buffet's recent announcement that he would
donate the bulk of his assets, some $31 billion, to the
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation captured public
attention not only about the size of the resultant
wealthiest foundation in the world, but also about
his lack of interest in memorializing his generosity
in perpetuity. Joel Fleishman's book identifies and
explores many of the issues raised by Buffet's
remarkable decision to "outsource" his philanthropy
and, as such, is the most important current analysis
of a poorly understood, but highly influential, sector
of today's society — America's 68,000 foundations —
and one central to the leadership and impact of the
nonprofit sector overall.
Fleishman is in a unique role to comment knowledgeably,
but critically, about U.S. foundations.
Formerly President of Atlantic Philanthropic Service
Company, the U.S. program staff of Atlantic
Philanthropies, and before then responsible for
Duke University's 1980s capital campaign, he now
heads a foundation research center at Duke.
Beyond his deep familiarity and respect for the
field, he draws upon over 100 case studies and
numerous interviews to lay out compelling evidence
of the beneficial impacts of foundations, of
which he argues there are many, as well as point
out important shortcomings.
On the former, he discusses the three roles that
foundations play — that of driver, partner and catalyst.
He argues that it is in the active and directive role of
driver, rather than the more passive role of catalyst or
funder, that foundations can make their greatest
contribution. He suggests, quite rightly, that foundations
are "the operational secret" of the nonprofit (or
"civic") sector, providing the primary source of start-up
capital for new nonprofit organizations, nurturing
them into self-sustainability and providing a continuing
supply of social venture capital. He gives an
overview of the breadth of American foundations, a
brief history of foundation approaches and styles
and twelve superb case studies (drawn from his
larger pool of 100) of high-impact foundation initiatives,
ranging from the transformation of American
medical education by the Flexner Report to the
green revolution to Sesame Street to a sustainable
energy program in China.
On the latter, Fleishman observes that "many of today's
foundations operate with an insulated culture that
tolerates an inappropriate level of secrecy and even
arrogance in their treatment of grant-seekers, grantreceivers,
the wider civic sector and the public officials
charged with oversight. This needs to change."
After summarizing the ways in which he believes
foundations go awry, he suggests a trenchant set of
ways for foundations to increase the impact of their
funding — primarily to be more transparent and
accountable in their decision-making processes and
results (both positive and negative), more strategic
in deploying their resources and better-focused on
problems ripe for solution.
If such voluntary efforts on the part of foundations
to improve transparency and accountability are not
taken up within a reasonable period of time, he suggests
governmental action that would impose legal
requirements to create a culture of transparency
among foundations — tough-minded counsel that is
surely both reasonable and appropriate in view of
the growing number and increasing assets of
American foundations.
As a final note, Fleishman offers three major trends in
philanthropy in the 21st century: America's charitable
giving will increase greatly; new forms and strategies
for philanthropy will evolve in shapes and forms
which cannot yet be fathomed; and venture philanthropy
and social entrepreneurship will gradually
come to dominate philanthropy in this century.
Any leader who hopes to make a major foundation
his or her partner would do well to understand
Fleishman's underscoring the heightened expectations
of these institutions for their own performance, and,
consequently, for their grantees. Because foundations
are being propelled both by external demands for
greater accountability and internal pressure for
increased effectiveness, those expectations are unlikely
to diminish.
Jeffrey Abrahams
(Ten Speed Press, 2007, 147+v pp., $14.955)
This succinct book tackles a big subject and amply
demonstrates why it is so difficult to get mission statements
right. In a brief opening section, Abrahams
explains the purpose and intent of mission statements,
as well as his recommended process for creating
one. The heart of the book are 101 corporate mission
statements of every conceivable type, from
pseudo-historical epics (Ingersoll-Rand stressing the
courage of its founders in leaving the buggy-whip
industry) to pithy statements of governing values
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Nonprofit organizations will
quickly see how difficult it is to
capture succinctly and compellingly
their essential purpose and values
in a simple statement. |
(Amgen summing up its mission as "to serve
patients") to the highly aspirational (Dreyer's Grand
Ice Cream Holdings seeks "to become the pre-eminent
ice cream company in the United States").
Abraham's examples demonstrate how difficult the
corporate sector finds it to craft clear, well-phrased
and relevant mission statements. Most of Abraham's
examples are light on content but high on hopes, or
as he puts it elsewhere in his volume, "writing can
be hard work." Nonprofit organizations, which by
definition are mission-driven, will quickly see from
his book how difficult, but vital, it is to capture succinctly
and compellingly their essential purpose and
values in a simple statement. Abraham's book is thus
a guide for nonprofits on how not to do it. Someone
should edit a companion volume of illustrative mission
statements for the nonprofit sector.
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