SSIR’s 2021 Social Innovation Reading List

By SSIR Editors

A collection of Stanford Social Innovation Review‘s most popular book excerpts published in 2021:

Mutualism: Building the Next Economy from the Ground Up by Sara Horowitz

“As economists and theorists circle around the idea of the ‘future of capitalism,’ the old-new concept of ‘mutualism’ is emerging from the bottom up, as the next ‘ism’ beyond capitalism that provides the moral compass and game plan we need.”

Prisms of the People: Power & Organizing in Twenty-First-Century America by Hahrie Han, Liz McKenna & Michelle Oyakawa

“A community that ‘stands behind’ a leader does not just vote, rally, or march once. This excerpt is from a chapter in which we probe the meaning of ‘stand behind’ by developing alternative measures for understanding whether the movement organizations in our study were able to more durably shift power.”

Solving Public Problems: A Practical Guide to Fix Our Government and Change Our World by Beth Simone Noveck

“Advocates of evidence evaluation, especially RCTs—what I nickname the ‘randomistas’—diverge from the ‘contestistas,’ who focus their enthusiasm and energy on the use of incentive prizes to spur social and policy innovations. Both groups are growing but growing apart.”

Creative Acts for Curious People: How to Think, Create, and Lead in Unconventional Ways by Sarah Stein Greenberg

“One of the most practical ways to handle uncertainty is to get good at putting your work out there and getting lots of input and feedback; not just once, but throughout your creative process.”

Well-Being: Expanding the Definition of Progress by Alonzo Plough

“We have much to learn from other countries that have taken a well-being approach to decision-making, budgets, and policies. In these contexts, well-being is a broad and holistic view of how people are doing.”

ALIEN Thinking: The Unconventional Path to Breakthrough Ideas by Cyril Bouquet, Jean-Louis Barsoux & Michael Wade

“Unconventional thinkers focus their attention closely and with fresh eyes. At various times, they also step back and/or step away from the creative process to gain perspective and enrich their understanding, a process we have dubbed levitation.”

Rich Thanks to Racism: How the Ultra-Wealthy Profit from Racial Injustice by Jim Freeman

“Strategic racism: when efforts to defend or expand systemic racism result in greater economic or political power for oneself. Perhaps the quintessential example of strategic racism is the pushback against criminal justice reform in the US.”

How Boards Work: And How They Can Work Better in a Chaotic World by Dambisa Moyo

“Corporations are now expected—by employees, investors, governments, and society at large—to become outright agents of change. This puts these social and environmental issues firmly on the board’s agenda.”

Amateurs without Borders: The Aspirations and Limits of Global Compassion by Allison Schnable

“Activism and charity have been transformed in the digital era. As Black Lives Matter protests across the US and globe coordinated over social media, mutual aid groups organized online to deliver neighborhood-level assistance for the COVID-19 pandemic.”

The New Builders: Face to Face With the True Future of Business by Seth Levine & Elizabeth MacBride

“America has always had a love affair with size. In the business world, we call it ‘scale’ and celebrate it. The concept dominated the last generation of company builders, who have built modern-day tech empires. But our history has always been a story of balance. Innovation requires that the empires are challenged by New Builders.”