Changing Your Company from the Inside Out - by Gerald F Davis & Christopher J White (Hardcover)

About the Book

"Changing Your Company from the Inside Out offers you the tools you need to champion initiatives that are meaningful to you, socially responsible, and align with your company's mission and strategy. Drawing on the lessons of dynamic social movements-from the Civil Rights Movement to the Arab Spring-and the real-world successes of corporate intrapreneurs, Davis and White present concrete strategies and tactics for effecting meaningful change in companies. This is an indispensable and practical guide for anyone seeking to create a sustainable venture within an existing enterprise"--

Book Synopsis

MAKE YOUR COMPANY A FORCE FOR GOOD

You're ambitious. You're not afraid to take risks. You want to bring about positive social change. And while your peers have left a trail of failed start-ups in their wake, you want to initiate change from within an established company, where you can have a more far-reaching, even global impact.

Welcome to the club--you're a social intrapreneur.

But even with your enviable skill set, your unwavering social conscience, and your determination to change the world, your path to success is filled with challenges. So how do you get started and maintain your momentum?

Changing Your Company from the Inside Out provides the tools to empower you to jump-start initiatives that matter to you--and that should matter to your company. Drawing on lessons from social movements as well as on the work of successful intrapreneurs, Gerald Davis and Christopher White provide you with a guide for creating positive social change from within your own organization.

You'll learn how to answer four key questions:
- When is the right time for change? Learn how to read your organization's climate.
- Why is this a compelling change? Use language and stories to connect your initiative to your organization's mission, strategy, and values.
- Who will make this innovation possible? Identify the decision makers you need to persuade and the potential resisters you need to steer around.
- How can you mobilize your supporters to collaborate on your innovation? Use the online and offline tools and platforms that best support your initiative.

This book is a road map for intrapreneurs seeking to reshape their companies into drivers of positive change. If you want to spearhead social innovation from within your company, use this book as your guide.

Review Quotes

"Exceptionally well written, organized and presented... as practical as it is 'user friendly' and is very highly recommended for personal, professional, corporate, community, and academic library instructional reference collections." -- Midwest Book Review

ADVANCE PRAISE for Changing Your Company from the Inside Out:

JUDITH F. SAMUELSON, FOUNDER AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, BUSINESS AND SOCIETY PROGRAM, ASPEN INSTITUTE--
"Davis and White artfully unpack a set of tools and strategies for change agents who want to help their corporations adapt to new social norms and environmental expectations. Let's hope this book finds its way into the hands of those who are poised to unleash the extraordinary capacity embedded in modern corporations. Both our nation and our world will be better off if they succeed."

JOE MALCOUN, CEO, NUTSHELL--
"Davis and White provide a functional and actionable platform for social-minded employees interested in effecting social change without falling into the same vague estuary of 'doing well by doing good.' Thankfully, this book moves beyond a call to action and offers readers the information they'll need to succeed in the field, where it matters most."

JEFFREY PFEFFER, THOMAS D. DEE II PROFESSOR OF ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR, STANFORD GRADUATE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS; AUTHOR, LEADERSHIP B.S.: FIXING WORKPLACES AND CAREERS ONE TRUTH AT A TIME--
"Davis and White provide practical, research-based, smart suggestions for leveraging the resources of your existing workplace to do social good in ways that fit your values and do not jeopardize your career. What could be better?"

MICHAEL USEEM, WILLIAM AND JACALYN EGAN PROFESSOR OF MANAGEMENT AND DIRECTOR OF THE CENTER FOR LEADERSHIP AND CHANGE MANAGEMENT, THE WHARTON SCHOOL, UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA--
"Changing Your Company from the Inside Out provides a compelling road map for social intrapreneurs who want to persuade their companies to embrace agendas far beyond the bottom line. An essential companion for all who want to mobilize their organizations to help create a better world."

JOHANNA MAIR, ACADEMIC EDITOR, STANFORD SOCIAL INNOVATION REVIEW--
"Davis and White masterfully integrate examples of successful social intrapreneurship and arguments from social-movement research to develop a guide on how to enact social change without formal authority. A truly empowering book for anyone who cares about business and social change."

FRED KELLER, FOUNDER AND FORMER CEO, CASCADE ENGINEERING--
"Changing Your Company from the Inside Out is a virtual fountain of ideas for how to increase the positive impact of companies as an employee and not a leader. It is extremely relevant to employees seeking to improve the positive impact of their institutions."

About the Author

Gerald F. Davis is the Wilbur K. Pierpont Collegiate Professor of Management at the Ross School of Business and Professor of Sociology at the University of Michigan. His most recent book is Managed by the Markets: How Finance Re-Shaped America, which won the Academy of Management's George R. Terry Book Award for Outstanding Contribution to Management Knowledge in 2010.

Christopher J. White is Managing Director of the Center for Positive Organizations and adjunct faculty in Management & Organizations at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business. Chris has been leading and consulting to purpose-driven organizations spanning the corporate, nonprofit, and philanthropic sectors for more than fifteen years.