How to Change the World
How Social Entrepreneurs Can Go from Initial Ideas to Global Impact
1st Edition
Published on 22. May 2025
240 pages
978-1-3994-2451-6 (ISBN)
Description
*AXIOM BUSINESS BOOK AWARD WINNER 2026 *
*SHORTLISTED FOR THE BUSINESS BOOK AWARDS 2026*
'Take your dream, read this, and let it fly.' JO YOULE OBE, CEO of Missing People
The world can be a challenging place. It is often tempting to say 'why doesn't someone do something about it?' But why shouldn't that 'someone' be you?
You don't have to be rich, powerful or a genius to make a profound and lasting difference to our world. All you need is an idea and the determination to make it happen. How to Change the World is the springboard to help you impact the world in the way you've always wanted.
From finding the money, to identifying the best people with whom to join forces, Jo Owen will help you launch, develop and scale an idea so that it has the most effective and meaningful social impact, and benefits as many people as possible.
Your idea can come from anywhere: from reading an article, talking to colleagues, or stumbling across a good idea that can be developed. Jo Owen champions that anyone can turn an idea into something that can have a meaningful and lasting impact on people's lives and can perform the miracle of creating something great out of nothing.
*SHORTLISTED FOR THE BUSINESS BOOK AWARDS 2026*
'Take your dream, read this, and let it fly.' JO YOULE OBE, CEO of Missing People
The world can be a challenging place. It is often tempting to say 'why doesn't someone do something about it?' But why shouldn't that 'someone' be you?
You don't have to be rich, powerful or a genius to make a profound and lasting difference to our world. All you need is an idea and the determination to make it happen. How to Change the World is the springboard to help you impact the world in the way you've always wanted.
From finding the money, to identifying the best people with whom to join forces, Jo Owen will help you launch, develop and scale an idea so that it has the most effective and meaningful social impact, and benefits as many people as possible.
Your idea can come from anywhere: from reading an article, talking to colleagues, or stumbling across a good idea that can be developed. Jo Owen champions that anyone can turn an idea into something that can have a meaningful and lasting impact on people's lives and can perform the miracle of creating something great out of nothing.
More details
Edition
1. Auflage
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
File size
1,86 MB
ISBN-13
978-1-3994-2451-6 (9781399424516)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
05/2025
Bloomsbury Business
€31.50
Shipment within 10-20 days
Person
Jo Owen is the author of over 20 books, including Smart Leadership, which together have been translated into more than 30 languages and with UK sales exceeding 150,000 copies. He is also the only four-time winning author of the Chartered Management Institute Gold Award. In addition to being a writer, Jo was previously the founder of eight NGOs, including Teach First. He appears regularly across national media, and is a sought-after international keynote speaker.
Content
- Intro
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Contents
- Introduction
- how this book came about
- about the book
- how you can change the world
- Chapter 1: Idea: Ignite the spark to change the world
- come up with an idea to change the world
- Finding the spark which will set the world alight
- how do you know if your idea is a winner?
- What is the impact?
- Is your idea scalable, replicable and sustainable?
- Is your idea different and/or better than existing programmes?
- Does your idea attract great people?
- changing the world and making money
- Chapter 2: Impact: Adapt your idea so that it has impact at scale
- why scale matters - and why it is dangerous
- five routes to scale
- 1. Scale the organization organically
- 2. Scale the organization through mergers and acquisitions
- 3. Replicate the organization
- 4. Build a movement
- 5. Work through partnerships
- scale or scope?
- monitoring and evaluation (M&E)
- 1. Informal formative assessment
- 2. Formal and formative assessment
- 3. Informal summative assessment
- 4. Formal summative assessments
- Embedding M&E in your organization
- Chapter 3: People: Create and sustain the winning team
- 1. have you got what it takes to change the world?
- Passion for a particular cause
- Acceptance that they have to be the agents of change
- Basic skills and capability
- Naivety about the scale of the challenge they face
- 2. how to take the first steps on your journey to changing the world
- 3. How your role changes over time
- 4. founder syndrome, and how you can avoid it
- 5. how to recruit a strong team
- Purpose
- Value proposition
- Skills mix
- Values
- Diversity
- 6. how your team has to change as you grow
- 7. how to manage your team
- Chapter 4: Partnerships: Build the coalitions which will take your idea to scale
- introduction
- government
- Innovator
- Contractor
- Trusted partner
- Funders
- 1. Grantees: NGOs and charities.
- 2. Funders: donors and philanthropists
- 3. The future perfect partnership
- private sector
- The corporate sector can be highly effective donors and supporters
- Corporates can offer scale solutions that NGOs cannot
- other ngos
- Chapter 5: Money: Find it, manage it and make the most of it
- why money makes running an ngo far harder than running a for-profit business
- how to cross the startup hurdle with nearly no money
- how to avoid the seven deadly sins of money
- 1. Underselling your idea
- 2. Weak controls
- 3. Accounting conventions
- 4. Optimism and denial
- 5. Dependency
- 6. Unsustainability
- 7. Underinvestment
- build a sustainable income stream
- 1. Market place activity, as a social enterprise
- 2. Government funding
- 3. Grant funding from large donors (B2B funding)
- 4. Retail donations (B2C funding)
- 5. PBR, SIB and other new forms of hybrid performance-based funding
- 6. Portfolio of funding streams
- Chapter 6: Machine: Scale, sustain and replicate your impact
- the five tests of a good machine
- the seven elements of a good machine, and how to build them
- Goals
- Substance
- Process
- Systems
- Culture
- People: your team
- People: yourself
- Structure (board and governance)
- Change
- Chapter 7: From worm's- to bird's-eye view of the world
- the challenge of waste
- the drivers of waste
- Piecemeal initiatives
- Focus on symptoms, not causes
- Inability to scale, replicate and sustain impact
- Corruption
- reducing waste and increasing impact: lessons for stakeholders
- Governments
- Philanthropists and donors
- NGOs and charities
- Index
