An inspiringly hopeful book.
A distinguished social entrepreneur offers insights on how to responsibly transform the interconnecting worlds of technology, business, and politics to elevate “individual and collective dignity."
The early 21st century is an era characterized by increasing economic inequality, crumbling sociopolitical systems, and the looming threat of climate catastrophe. Drawing on her experience working with change-makers and lessons learned from her own humanitarian efforts, Novogratz outlines a set of principles grounded in the idea that a better world can only emerge when individuals seek to serve others rather than themselves. She begins by highlighting the need to cultivate a moral imagination, the ability to “view other people’s problems as if they were your own." This kind of sensitivity helped a young Japanese entrepreneur build meaningful relationships with Colombian cacao farmers who had suffered through decades of political violence and who also wanted to maintain natural balance in the lands they farmed. The process took time, but, in the end, the entrepreneur was able to launch a business that was both socially conscious and sustainable. Listening to “voices unheard”—especially those belonging to the poor—is also critical, as is making a conscious effort to transform oneself into “a bridge…that others might walk across." To help break down the polarities that have come to define our modern age, the author suggests the need to “reach across the wall of either-or and acknowledge the truths that exist in opposing perspectives." The courage to act independently is also necessary for a moral revolution. Novogratz’s story of a privileged female entrepreneur who created a clothing company that trained and employed poor Indian women shows how one person avoided the “conformity trap" while also bearing witness to the value of those shunted to the margins. Wise and optimistic, the author provides a benevolent tonic for those looking to rise above the troubled waters of the age and embrace the “beautiful struggle” of rebuilding our broken world.
An inspiringly hopeful book.Pub Date: May 5, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-22287-9
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: Feb. 23, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
Occasionally wonky but overall a good case for how the dismal science can make the world less—well, dismal.
“Quality of life means more than just consumption”: Two MIT economists urge that a smarter, more politically aware economics be brought to bear on social issues.
It’s no secret, write Banerjee and Duflo (co-authors: Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way To Fight Global Poverty, 2011), that “we seem to have fallen on hard times.” Immigration, trade, inequality, and taxation problems present themselves daily, and they seem to be intractable. Economics can be put to use in figuring out these big-issue questions. Data can be adduced, for example, to answer the question of whether immigration tends to suppress wages. The answer: “There is no evidence low-skilled migration to rich countries drives wage and employment down for the natives.” In fact, it opens up opportunities for those natives by freeing them to look for better work. The problem becomes thornier when it comes to the matter of free trade; as the authors observe, “left-behind people live in left-behind places,” which explains why regional poverty descended on Appalachia when so many manufacturing jobs left for China in the age of globalism, leaving behind not just left-behind people but also people ripe for exploitation by nationalist politicians. The authors add, interestingly, that the same thing occurred in parts of Germany, Spain, and Norway that fell victim to the “China shock.” In what they call a “slightly technical aside,” they build a case for addressing trade issues not with trade wars but with consumption taxes: “It makes no sense to ask agricultural workers to lose their jobs just so steelworkers can keep theirs, which is what tariffs accomplish.” Policymakers might want to consider such counsel, especially when it is coupled with the observation that free trade benefits workers in poor countries but punishes workers in rich ones.
Occasionally wonky but overall a good case for how the dismal science can make the world less—well, dismal.Pub Date: Nov. 12, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-61039-950-0
Page Count: 432
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Review Posted Online: Aug. 28, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2019
SEEN & HEARD
Perhaps not magic but appealing nonetheless.
Want to get ahead in business? Consult a dictionary.
By Wharton School professor Berger’s account, much of the art of persuasion lies in the art of choosing the right word. Want to jump ahead of others waiting in line to use a photocopy machine, even if they’re grizzled New Yorkers? Throw a because into the equation (“Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine, because I’m in a rush?”), and you’re likely to get your way. Want someone to do your copying for you? Then change your verbs to nouns: not “Can you help me?” but “Can you be a helper?” As Berger notes, there’s a subtle psychological shift at play when a person becomes not a mere instrument in helping but instead acquires an identity as a helper. It’s the little things, one supposes, and the author offers some interesting strategies that eager readers will want to try out. Instead of alienating a listener with the omniscient should, as in “You should do this,” try could instead: “Well, you could…” induces all concerned “to recognize that there might be other possibilities.” Berger’s counsel that one should use abstractions contradicts his admonition to use concrete language, and it doesn’t help matters to say that each is appropriate to a particular situation, while grammarians will wince at his suggestion that a nerve-calming exercise to “try talking to yourself in the third person (‘You can do it!’)” in fact invokes the second person. Still, there are plenty of useful insights, particularly for students of advertising and public speaking. It’s intriguing to note that appeals to God are less effective in securing a loan than a simple affirmative such as “I pay all bills…on time”), and it’s helpful to keep in mind that “the right words used at the right time can have immense power.”
Perhaps not magic but appealing nonetheless.Pub Date: March 7, 2023
ISBN: 9780063204935
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Harper Business
Review Posted Online: March 23, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2023
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