We the Possibility: Harnessing Public Entrepreneurship to Solve Our Most Urgent Problems

Format:Print

Abstract

The huge public challenges we face are daunting. At the same time, many of us have come to accept the notion that government can't do new things or solve tough challenges—it's too big and slow and bureaucratic. Not so. Entrepreneurial savvy in government is growing, transforming the public sector's response to big problems at all levels. The key is a shift from a mindset of "Probability Government"—overly focused on safe solutions and mimicking "best" practices—to "Possibility Government." This means public leadership and management that’s willing to imagine new possibilities and to experiment. Public officials and the public will have to shift towards possibility together. They will need to work to craft 1) government that can imagine; 2) government that can try new things; and 3) government that can scale to serve the many.

Keywords

Entrepreneurship; Public Sector; Government Administration; Government and Politics; Technological Innovation; Problems and Challenges; Innovation Leadership; Public Administration Industry; Technology Industry

Citation

Weiss, Mitchell. We the Possibility: Harnessing Public Entrepreneurship to Solve Our Most Urgent Problems. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Review Press, 2021.