The Economist Helps Launch Our Leap
It has been an affirming and gratifying seventeen days since we launched Leap of Reason: Managing to Outcomes in an Era of Scarcity. The early feedback has been quite positive—in fact, materially better than we had envisioned.
As part of our own process of managing to the outcomes we established for this book, we’re writing to update you on the conversations you and others have helped to spark.
Here are some early signs that the book is reaching leaders inside and outside the social sector, and these leaders are using the book to engage their stakeholders in mission-critical conversations:
- The Economist (print circulation: 1.5M, web visitors: 4.5M/month) featured a very nice review of Leap of Reason as part of a triad with Give Smart and Do More than Give.
- Twenty-nine blogs and newsletters with broad, relevant distribution lists have featured the book, including McKinsey on Society (reaching tens of thousands of readers) and Bridgespan’s Leaders Matter newsletter (30,000 readers), and we know of others planning to add their comments.
- Close to one million Twitter users have received messages sharing positive views and telling others of the book.
- The book has had a diverse and broad geographic reach—from East to West Coasts, on both sides of the Mason-Dixon line, throughout Middle America, from Ireland to England to Australia to Columbia (must be the Economist kicking in).
- Leaders we greatly admire and who are not prone to sugarcoat their views are writing to tell us that they’re finding the book to have practical application for their work. Here are some examples:
- “I intend to send the book/link to my entire full-time faculty, the Provost and the President.”
- “I am LOVING your book, btw, and making it required reading [at my organization].”
- “This book should be read by every not-for-profit and their boards in the social sector. I know that I will recommend it to all on whose boards I sit or to whom I consult.”
- “The book has inspired me to forge ahead to make the change that is needed to give birth to something that hasn’t happened yet in . . . academic medicine.”
The book is now available in Kindle and paperback editions on Amazon. We are not charging for the pdf version on LeapofReason.org, though Amazon requires we charge a small handling fee. The 12,000 we printed initially are (or soon will be) in the hands of leaders we identified in advance of the launch or those who subsequently requested copies to share with their boards, staff, members, or other key stakeholders. With the unexpectedly strong demand, we’re now printing an additional 7,000 copies and will print more if needed.
And, any day now—at least that’s what we’re being told—Leap of Reason will be available for download in the iTunes app store. Thanks to our designer Chris Wright and the elegant Apple interface, the book really looks great on an iPad.
There has been good interest by organizations in providing copies for their boards, leadership teams, partners, and grantees, with a dozen requesting copies for upcoming planning meetings, professional development sessions, or retreats. Please let us know at info@Leapofreason.org if you would like copies for an upcoming planning session or retreat.
We’d love to hear your reactions to the book. Has it had any concrete relevance to your work? Helped you start a much-needed conversation? What resonated most with you? Do you have examples or models to share? Criticisms? Concerns? Counterexamples? The VPP team and I welcome candid feedback, so feel free to reach out to us at info@leapofreason.org and www.facebook.com/LeapofReason.
Thanks for this good start. My best, Mario Morino
Quotes From Leaders Like You
“You’re taking someone else’s money to get into somebody else’s life to try to make a difference. You better be showing you can make a difference!”
“Stories substituting for facts is like fingernails on a chalkboard for me!”
“Any school in the country can do this. And it breaks my heart that we’re not [all] doing this!”
“Every day, you have to say, ’How can we do this more efficiently and more effectively?’ It’s in our DNA.”
“Through a process of self-reflection, our board members asked themselves fundamental questions: How can we improve? How can we make a greater impact?”
“You have to have undying passion for the population you’re serving. We can spend time patting ourselves on the back for the 85 percent of the kids who are doing really well in our program. But we need to be as concerned about the 15 percent who aren’t succeeding and learn how we can improve for them.”
“Managing to outcomes is not about simply counting things or gathering information. And it is not about satisfying funders. It is an internal effort aimed at figuring out what works and what doesn’t, so that the organization can provide the best possible services to its clients”