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Hacking Communities: Cracking the Code to Vibrant Communities
Discover the foundational principles and frameworks to further develop yourself as a strong community leader.
This guide makes the case that anyone can develop the leadership and communication skills required to sustain high-growth communities. It The world needs a new approach to building communities and leadership —one based on relationships, trust, and belonging. Community building must be “hacked.” In Hacking Communities , Laís de Oliveira examines how we can develop renew our shared sense of belonging by developing community leadership skills. Drawing on her own personal struggle with loneliness, as well as academic research and her professional experience in leading communities with nonprofits, startups, and public organizations, she provides leadership and communication frameworks to build stronger and more diverse communities. While the title "Hacking Communities" alludes to tips and tricks for community building, its content means to equip emerging leaders with the social skills and foundations to build self-sustaining values, principles, and mindset. It features personal stories, research studies, and creative metaphors collected during my journey to becoming a community leader. "Laís is one of those rare people who lead their life by how they think the world should be, and in ways that can help the most people possible around them. This is what makes her the best type of community builder. She is someone who can find common ground with anyone in the world and strive to help bring meaning to them. That’s why in almost every continent in the world, she has managed to build community and why her insights on community building are as important as anyone you can learn from on this topic."
– Excerpt from Foreword by Derek Andersen, Co-founder, and CEO at Startup Grind and Bevy Most people who talk about community building want to romanticize it, or worse, they want to make it into a series of actionable “steps” without heart. Laís de Oliveira explains the required actions in amazing detail, but she does it with a sensitivity and a wisdom that can only come from experience (...) Every page gets better and better. If you care about people, read this book.
– Roy H. Williams, Author of the bestselling Wizard of Ads
"While Lais has proven herself as an impactful community builder, what makes her unique is she is both a skilled practitioner and a teacher. As a result she understands the theory and the practice of community building, and her insights are rooted in what works.
– Erik Torenberg , Founder and Chairman at On Deck
This guide makes the case that anyone can develop the leadership and communication skills required to sustain high-growth communities. It The world needs a new approach to building communities and leadership —one based on relationships, trust, and belonging. Community building must be “hacked.” In Hacking Communities , Laís de Oliveira examines how we can develop renew our shared sense of belonging by developing community leadership skills. Drawing on her own personal struggle with loneliness, as well as academic research and her professional experience in leading communities with nonprofits, startups, and public organizations, she provides leadership and communication frameworks to build stronger and more diverse communities. While the title "Hacking Communities" alludes to tips and tricks for community building, its content means to equip emerging leaders with the social skills and foundations to build self-sustaining values, principles, and mindset. It features personal stories, research studies, and creative metaphors collected during my journey to becoming a community leader. "Laís is one of those rare people who lead their life by how they think the world should be, and in ways that can help the most people possible around them. This is what makes her the best type of community builder. She is someone who can find common ground with anyone in the world and strive to help bring meaning to them. That’s why in almost every continent in the world, she has managed to build community and why her insights on community building are as important as anyone you can learn from on this topic."
– Excerpt from Foreword by Derek Andersen, Co-founder, and CEO at Startup Grind and Bevy Most people who talk about community building want to romanticize it, or worse, they want to make it into a series of actionable “steps” without heart. Laís de Oliveira explains the required actions in amazing detail, but she does it with a sensitivity and a wisdom that can only come from experience (...) Every page gets better and better. If you care about people, read this book.
– Roy H. Williams, Author of the bestselling Wizard of Ads
"While Lais has proven herself as an impactful community builder, what makes her unique is she is both a skilled practitioner and a teacher. As a result she understands the theory and the practice of community building, and her insights are rooted in what works.
– Erik Torenberg , Founder and Chairman at On Deck
- GenresBusiness
226 pages, Paperback
Published December 15, 2020
32 people are currently reading
361 people want to read
About the author
Laís de Oliveira
3 books11 followersAn entrepreneur with over a decade of experience in community building, Laís de Oliveira has participated in the development of entrepreneurial communities around the world.
From Minas Gerais, Brazil, she moved to Mauritius in 2010 to work as a volunteer with a nonprofit organization. From there, she went on to manage eighteen chapters and almost two thousand volunteers at the same organization, across Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay. Later, Laís joined one of Latin America's first startup accelerators. She also joined Startup Grind as their Buenos Aires Director. In 2014, she moved to Malaysia and created Startup Grind in Kuala Lumpur. She also joined the headquarters of the Startup Grind community as Africa and APAC Community Director, contributing to the its global growth from dozens to over a hundred chapters. At the same time, she joined an initiative by the Malaysian Government as a community ambassador, with an aim to develop the country's startup ecosystem. From there, she helped develop Malaysia's largest educational initiative for entrepreneurship, MaGIC Academy, and served both as a community consultant and as a Mentor in Residence at Southeast Asia's largest startup accelerator, the Global Accelerator Program.
During her time in Malaysia, Laís also started her first business, 8spaces.co, a marketplace for flexible commercial real estate, its clients included Heineken, GSK, Google, Swarovski, and Etsy. In 2016, it was acquired by Flyspaces.com, Southeast Asia's largest marketplace for workspaces. After acquisition, Laís served as Malaysia Country Manager and Chief Community Officer.
She then moved to San Francisco, where she joined Startup Genome as the organization's Community Development Director. There, she developed evidence-based strategies to accelerate economic growth through startup communities and worked for governments and innovation agencies in more than seventy-five ecosystems as part of the executive team.
In 2020, Laís moved back to Brazil, where she is exploring the future of education at a rural office in Serra do Cipó national park.
From Minas Gerais, Brazil, she moved to Mauritius in 2010 to work as a volunteer with a nonprofit organization. From there, she went on to manage eighteen chapters and almost two thousand volunteers at the same organization, across Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay. Later, Laís joined one of Latin America's first startup accelerators. She also joined Startup Grind as their Buenos Aires Director. In 2014, she moved to Malaysia and created Startup Grind in Kuala Lumpur. She also joined the headquarters of the Startup Grind community as Africa and APAC Community Director, contributing to the its global growth from dozens to over a hundred chapters. At the same time, she joined an initiative by the Malaysian Government as a community ambassador, with an aim to develop the country's startup ecosystem. From there, she helped develop Malaysia's largest educational initiative for entrepreneurship, MaGIC Academy, and served both as a community consultant and as a Mentor in Residence at Southeast Asia's largest startup accelerator, the Global Accelerator Program.
During her time in Malaysia, Laís also started her first business, 8spaces.co, a marketplace for flexible commercial real estate, its clients included Heineken, GSK, Google, Swarovski, and Etsy. In 2016, it was acquired by Flyspaces.com, Southeast Asia's largest marketplace for workspaces. After acquisition, Laís served as Malaysia Country Manager and Chief Community Officer.
She then moved to San Francisco, where she joined Startup Genome as the organization's Community Development Director. There, she developed evidence-based strategies to accelerate economic growth through startup communities and worked for governments and innovation agencies in more than seventy-five ecosystems as part of the executive team.
In 2020, Laís moved back to Brazil, where she is exploring the future of education at a rural office in Serra do Cipó national park.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 22, 2021
I won a copy of this book through Goodreads Giveaways and am voluntarily leaving a review.
This is a seemingly good roadmap toward building authentic communities. The second half is exercises that I’ll need to come back to in order to fully experience, but the foundation seems sound and like these would work. My only real complaint about this is that it feels very business-y, like the only reason someone would want to build communities is to sell a good, service or idea to people. That wasn’t quite my intention in getting this book—I wanted some tips on how to authentically build community in spaces—and though I got some good tips it still felt a little too money-driven to me.
All in all, though, I would recommend this, at least as a good starting point.
This is a seemingly good roadmap toward building authentic communities. The second half is exercises that I’ll need to come back to in order to fully experience, but the foundation seems sound and like these would work. My only real complaint about this is that it feels very business-y, like the only reason someone would want to build communities is to sell a good, service or idea to people. That wasn’t quite my intention in getting this book—I wanted some tips on how to authentically build community in spaces—and though I got some good tips it still felt a little too money-driven to me.
All in all, though, I would recommend this, at least as a good starting point.
March 8, 2022
Good information
I am part of a school community and we are trying to build the community of families. This gave me some great inspiration on how to go about building up the community.
I am part of a school community and we are trying to build the community of families. This gave me some great inspiration on how to go about building up the community.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews