Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I hope this book will be widely read, debated, and followed.
If you have long been a fan of Rosabeth Moss Kanter's wonderful books about how to make organizations and individuals more effective, please realize that in America the Principled she has taken on an expanded charter -- to create a vision for what must be done for American society to perform at its best. This book is built from the thinking behind Professor Kanter's many articles on national affairs for Knight-Ridder.
Since Peter Drucker died, I've been hoping one of our great management thinkers would step forward to take over for the many visionary articles and books he wrote that gave us a pathway to social improvements. If I had to pick one person best suited to picking up his mantle, it would be Professor Kanter. I was very excited to see that she had written this book.
The book makes six prescriptions (Professor Kanter calls them opportunities) that can be followed to fulfill the promise of the American dream and the best of American values. Let me briefly describe those prescriptions:
1. Advance economic potential by doing more to encourage technological innovation to solve our most important national challenges (such as reducing the use of imported oil and making security less intrusive) and to apply such innovation broadly throughout education and health care.
2. Improve family life by shifting away from people sacrificing families and personal lives for work. She effectively points out how rigid ideas about career keep many well-educated women from making their full contribution after their families need less of their time.
3. Companies should measure and report on their social impacts (such as by the triple bottom line) while being more honest and transparent. Social attention should shift to favoring organizations that make these progressive changes.
4. Create respect for government to do its unique tasks so that talented people will want to serve and provide the opportunity to do a good job for citizens in those capacities.
5. The government should engage in cooperation with the rest of the world and citizens should outreach at a person-to-person level.
6. Citizens should cooperate with government to do more for our communities.
Those who are looking for extensive economic statistics and mathematical formulas that "prove" these points will be disappointed. Rather, Professor Kanter draws on her keen ability to observe what's going on around her to share moving examples of ways that good and bad behavior are changing our situation and opportunities.
I found the examples to be thought-provoking. In each case, the examples reminded me of some experience I've had that validated Professor Kanter's point. If you find that you haven't had such experiences as you read this book, take the time to look into what she's talking about. Some of the greatest days of my life have come in seeing what underprivileged kids can do when provided with good resources and encouragement, assisting people in third world countries to solve their own problems, and helping government agencies rethink how they can make greater social contributions. I hope you too have had those experiences . . . or soon will have them.
With good will, proper direction, and a focus on good values, we can accomplish much more.
Bravo, Professor Kanter!
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