Making Work Matter - by Nancy McGaw (Paperback)

About the Book

Business has enormous potential to create economic value and positive impact on society and the planet. Innovative employees, who see opportunities for companies to change, can be key to unleashing this potential. But how do these employees become the internal change agents or intrapreneurs that the world needs to help solve some of our toughest environmental and social challenges?

After a career as a corporate banker, Nancy McGaw joined the Aspen Institute and developed a keen interest in learning from and supporting intrapreneurs. In 2009 she launched the First Movers Fellowship, that has mentored hundreds of innovators from the world's largest companies, who are creating products, services or management practices that are good for both business and society.

In Making Work Matter: How to Create Positive Change in your Company and Meaning in Your Career, McGaw shares how innovators who were selected to be part of the program, created positive change--from Paul Dillinger who launched the Wellthread(TM) Collection at Levi's(R) to produce great looking and sustainable garments to Rahul Raj who piloted Walmart's guaranteed take-back program for electronics that enabled customers to return and buy refurbished products, effectively keeping them out of landfills while building a new, profitable revenue stream for the company.

The book combines over forty inspiring stories with the mindsets and practices you need to become an intrapreneur. McGaw shows you how to begin your own journey by reflecting on the work that matters deeply to you, exploring how to bring your innovative ideas to life, collaborate with likeminded colleagues, and stay on the changemaking path even when challenges arise.

Whether you are a manager or an individual contributor working in finance, marketing, R&D, talent management or sustainability, this book will be an indispensable guide to building a career that delivers value--to you, your company, and to society.

Book Synopsis

Business has enormous potential to create economic value and positive impact on society and the planet. Innovative employees, who see opportunities for companies to change, can be key to unleashing this potential. How can employees create pathways for change within their companies? How do they become the internal change agents or intrapreneurs that the world needs to help solve some of our toughest environmental and social challenges?

After a career as a corporate banker for nearly two decades, Nancy McGaw joined the Aspen Institute and quickly became an ardent student of values-based leadership with a keen interest in learning from and supporting intrapreneurs. In 2009 she launched the First Movers Fellowship, that became a world-renowned leadership program. The program mentored hundreds of innovators from the world's largest companies, who were looking to take their innovations forward, and create products, services or management practices that are good for business and create social and environmental value.

In her book, Making Work Matter: How to Create Positive Change in your Company and Meaning in Your Career, McGaw shares how the business managers and leaders, who were selected to be part of the program, created positive change--from Paul Dillinger who launched the Wellthread(TM) Collection at Levi's(R) to produce garments that not only look great but are sustainably produced at every step of the design process, to Gyanda Sachdeva who developed tools on LinkedIn to connect hiring managers with a diverse pool of freelance professionals, and Rahul Raj who piloted Walmart's guaranteed take-back program for electronics that enabled customers to return and buy refurbished products, effectively keeping them out of landfills, and building a new, profitable revenue stream for the company.

The book combines over forty inspiring stories with the mindsets, best practices, and practical advice you need to become an intrapreneur. In effect, McGaw shows you how to begin your own journey by reflecting on the work that matters deeply to you, exploring ways to bring your innovative ideas to life, collaborate with likeminded colleagues, and stay on the changemaking path even when challenges arise.

Whether you are a manager or an individual contributor working in finance, marketing, R&D, talent management or sustainability, this book will be an indispensable guide to building a career that delivers value--to you, your company, and to society.

Review Quotes

"An upbeat, motivational view on shaping corporate social consciousness." -Kirkus Reviews

"In 'Making Work Matter, ' Nancy McGaw beautifully interweaves the stories of Aspen First Movers Fellows, showcasing their journey as problem finders and solvers..It's an essential read for anyone committed to doing meaningful work that makes a lasting impact."
-Hal Gregersen, senior lecturer in innovation and leadership at MIT Sloan School of Management, author of Questions Are The Answer and The Innovator's DNA

"Nancy McGaw's Making Work Matter is an innovative and indispensable playbook of social intrapreneurship that brings to life practical leadership lessons that will help you elevate your own leadership."
-Matt Breitfelder, Partner and Global Head of Human Capital, Apollo Global Management

"Nancy McGaw's book is full of inspiring stories of managers and leaders, at some of the largest companies, from Mastercard to Linkedin and IBM, who..have successfully raised the bar in making their companies more inclusive, sustainable and values driven. This book is a must-read!"
-Aaron Hurst is co-founder of Board.dev and former CEO of The Taproot Foundation and Imperative

"Nancy McGaw's clear and insightful book is the tool we all need to help cultivate positive change within our companies and organizations, and build meaning and purpose in our careers."
-Susan McPherson is founder and CEO of McPherson Strategies.. She is the author of The Lost Art of Connecting: The Gather, Ask, Do Method for Building Meaningful Business Relationships

"..In this book, she [McGaw] shares the mindset, lessons and best practices for bringing about positive change, both big and small, that will make your work matter and infuse it with meaning."
-Andrew Winston, expert on sustainable business and co-author of Net Positive: How Courageous Companies Thrive By Giving More Than They Take

About the Author

Nancy McGaw is a senior advisor at the Aspen Institute Business & Society Program. In 2009, she founded the Aspen First Movers Fellowship, now a widely acclaimed leadership development program for corporate social intrapreneurs.

For 15 years, she has mentored and learned from nearly 300 bold, creative innovators, working in large corporations, who want their work to deliver economic value to their companies while creating a healthier, fairer, more just, and sustainable world.

McGaw joined the Aspen Institute in 2000 after nearly two decades as a corporate banker and quickly became an ardent student of values-based leadership. She wishes that in her years as a banker she had a guide like Making Work Matter that could have served as a springboard for her to become a corporate changemaker.