The Difference Makers

Reviews / Votes

Have you ever wanted to get behind-the-scenes, first-hand stories of how the corporate responsibility (CR) movement emerged and most importantly, who are the people behind it?

If yes, then The Difference Makers by Sandra Waddock is for you.In a series of interviews, the author tells the story of "difference makers" - visionary social and institutional entrepreneurs who developed and fostered such important initiatives as the United Nations Global Compact, the Global Reporting Initiative, Sustain Ability, the Institute for Responsible Investment, Account Ability, the International Business Leaders Forum, Fair Labour Association and Boston College Centre for Corporate Citizenship, just to name a few.Besides giving the reader a chance to hear directly from the difference makers themselves, the book aims to address broader issues such as the concept of long-term social change and the drivers behind it as well as the role of individual in creating social movements and the vision behind these changes.

To give you a full view of the creation of this social movement, the book is divided into 9 chapters, each focusing on a different aspect of CR. The difference makers, people from all walks of life, share their experience on such topics as developing sustainability reporting, assessment and analysis of corporate performance through ratings and public monitoring mechanisms as well as the origins of responsible investing and multi-stakeholder dialogue. In the last chapter, the author asks the interviewees to share their view on major obstacles to systemic change and provide insights into the corporate responsibility movement's key areas for development.

Rooted in the historical context, the book highlights key developments in the emergence of corporate responsibility infrastructure by examining the motivation and inspiration of 23 outstanding difference makers. This book is recommended for those who want to get valuable insights and lessons learned from the founders of the CR movement and "connect the dots" in the journey that was the emergence of corporate responsibility. - Svetlana Skryagina, CSR International

This is a remarkable book about two dozen remarkable leaders ... You hear the Difference Makers tell their separate stories in their own words. And what fascinating stories they are! ... Waddock skillfully weaves selected passages from their accounts in chain-like fashion to reveal the early emergence of social investing, its subsequent full-blown development, the expansion into employee, consumer, and environmental issues, the creation of global standards and human rights principles to guide corporate policy, and the literal invention of networking agencies to spread the word directly to firms, governments, educators, and the public citizenry worldwide ...And this is not just dull "history" but a lively account of how these social inventors translated generalized concepts into operational systems. ... As James Walsh says in the Foreword, "Sandra Waddock is a difference maker." Author of books and articles about corporate responsibility, former editor of the Journal of Corporate Citizenship, a recognized world authority on business-society relationships, an indefatigable worker and colleague in the struggle for workplace human rights, and a veteran of her own early struggles as a woman to gain her well-deserved professional status, Sandra Waddock clearly is a Difference Maker extraordinaire. ... You owe it to yourself and to your students to get better acquainted with all two dozen Difference Makers. Read the full review - William C. Frederick

It's an inspiring read to see how the personal stories formed these leaders' life paths and allows the reader to identify with them. Author Sandra Waddock uses an interesting style interweaving the personal background of 23 leaders with how they came about to create their organizations and initiatives. Read the full blog entry about Jane Nelson - Business4Good Blog, 13 October 2008. - Juergen Nagler