(For Immediate Release: March 12, 2021, Seattle, WA + Austin, TX): When social impact thought leader Paul Shoemaker was researching effective civic change, he discovered something important: What matters most today in driving real change in our businesses and communities is less about a certain set of programs or strategies and more about a different kind of leadership.
The 2020s call for leaders poised to meet what are radically-different challenges than even a generation ago – including near-critical levels of inequity, silos, division, and resource scarcity. While innovation is always good, more than invention and innovation, what is needed most now is re-invention and renovation, explains Shoemaker.
“THE SOCIAL CHALLENGES FACING US IN THE 2020S ARE RADICALLY DIFFERENT THAN THOSE WE FACED EVEN ONE GENERATION AGO.” — PAUL SHOEMAKER, AUTHOR
“As I studied this question of what drives the most successful social impact, I began noticing that the stellar cases were led by people with a unique approach to leadership. And they happen to possess some strikingly similar traits. Five key traits, in fact,” said Shoemaker.
Using the analogy of deteriorating bridges in the United States, Shoemaker shows us in his new book, Taking Charge of Change: How Rebuilders Solve Hard Problems (HarperCollins Leadership; release date Mar 16, 2021), that the structures and foundations of American communities and companies are in deep need of rethinking and rebuilding. “With limited capital and increasing urgency, we can’t afford NOT to do more with what we have,” said Shoemaker. “Simply put, the most valuable leaders today are those with the traits to be what I call ‘Rebuilders.’”
Writing for socially conscious and civically active leaders who seek greater impact – in private, public, and nonprofit sectors – Shoemaker profiles 38 rock star change agents (including three who are Austin-based: Suzi Sosa, CEO of Verb; Doug Ullman of LiveStrong and Madge Vasquez, CEO of Mission Capital; whom he dubs Rebuilders. He distills what makes them so effective. Featured leaders also include Peter Drucker Award winner Rosanne Haggerty, whose goal is to end chronic homelessness; Trish Millines, who has changed lives for kids of color pursuing high tech; and David Risher, whose cross-sector approach is addressing global illiteracy; and more.
In Taking Charge of Change, readers learn the five vital traits top change agents use to solve big problems – such as “24-7 Authenticity” and “Complexity Capacity” – and how these traits work together to be greater than the sum of their parts. Readers also gain perspective from relevant research, data, leadership lessons from Rebuilders, and three cases studies that illuminate the path ahead. All shared in Shoemaker’s signature storytelling style.
“It’s critical that we get this right if we want to come out of this decade better than we came in,” said Shoemaker. “With this book, you have an inside look at the ‘secret sauce’ of leadership that activates the most successful transformations today and for the decade ahead.”
