Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn: The Power of Writing to Launch and Sustain a Movement (Abridged)

Julie  Battilana; Lakshmi  Ramarajan; Michael  Norris

Case | HBS Case Collection | April 2019

Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn: The Power of Writing to Launch and Sustain a Movement (Abridged)

by Julie Battilana, Lakshmi Ramarajan and Michael Norris

Abstract

In 2018, New York Times writer Nicholas Kristof and his wife, former Times writer Sheryl WuDunn (HBS ’86) who worked in finance, were planning for their next book. The couple’s earlier books had given rise to social movements around gender equity and poverty issues. They hoped the next book would be equally powerful. What should the book focus on? What additional content should they create to make sure their writing had an impact?

Keywords: Social Movement; Gender equality; Writing; Social Issues; Gender; Equality and Inequality; Poverty; Books; Change; Leadership;

Language: English

Format: Print

20 pages

Educators

Citation:

Battilana, Julie, Lakshmi Ramarajan, and Michael Norris. "Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn: The Power of Writing to Launch and Sustain a Movement (Abridged)." Harvard Business School Case 419-059, April 2019.

Brothers André and Daniel Albuquerque founded the company Terra Nova in 2001 to mediate land disputes between poor families illegally living in urban areas and the official landowners—with the aspiration to improve the lives of the poor. A business-led approach to the issue, like Terra Nova’s, was innovative and contested amid the widespread belief that land disputes fell solely within the public sector’s purview. After struggling to develop a viable business model, the company received support from impact investing firm MOV Investimentos. By 2019, Terra Nova finally broke even and was exploring opportunities for scaling. But its leaders had to decide the right expansion model for the social business.

Chapter | Handbook of Inclusive Innovation | 2019

Problem, Person, and Pathway: A Framework for Social Innovators

Julie Battilana, Brittany Butler, Marissa Kimsey, Johanna Mair, Christopher Marquis and Christian Seelos

As the appetite for learning about social innovation intensifies, how can we better prepare practitioners for the work of addressing the world’s pressing social problems at the relevant scale? This chapter presents the “3P” framework that we developed to help address this challenge, grounded in our experience researching, teaching, and advising social innovators around the world. In this framework, we propose three key lenses to help social innovators contribute to social change, unpacking the nature of: the problem at hand, the person pursuing change, and the pathway to change. Considering the alignment of these 3Ps provides an organizing template for social innovators to think about how they can effectively contribute to solving social problems. We illustrate how we engage new and experienced social innovators in this learning journey by discussing our pedagogical approach as educators. In conclusion, we discuss future research directions to help address unanswered questions.

Keywords: social innovation; Social Entrepreneurship; Social Issues; Change; Problems and Challenges;

Citation:

Battilana, Julie, Brittany Butler, Marissa Kimsey, Johanna Mair, Christopher Marquis, and Christian Seelos. "Problem, Person, and Pathway: A Framework for Social Innovators." In Handbook of Inclusive Innovation: The Role of Organizations, Markets and Communities in Social Innovation, edited by Gerard George, Ted Baker, Paul Tracey, and Havovi Joshi, 61–74. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2019. View Details

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Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn: The Power of Writing to Launch and Sustain a Movement (Abridged)

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