The Solution Revolution Quotes

“Solving society’s most intractable problems begins with understanding what actually moves the needle. This allows resources and creativity to be focused where they have the most impact. Requests to support a social purpose are now regularly expected to include a solid demonstration of effectiveness. It may be a donor inspecting a nonprofit on a website like Charity Navigator, an impact investor evaluating a potential loan recipient, a citizen inspecting where his or her tax dollars go, or an investor evaluating socially responsible stocks. How impact is articulated may vary, but providing compelling evidence of results is now a make-or-break proposition for organizations seeking financial support.”
― William D. Eggers, The Solution Revolution: How Business, Government, and Social Enterprises Are Teaming Up to Solve Society's Toughest Problems

“In the solution economy, the winning approach is to capitalize on your role in a broader ecosystem. If a problem exists, the answer is to create an environment in which the solution can organically, sustainably, profitably be brought to bear—even if there is no market demand in the traditional sense. Sound impossible? Well, that’s exactly what Unilever did in India to address a critical public sanitation problem. How the company did it demonstrates the role that ecosystems play in the solution revolution.”
― William D. Eggers, The Solution Revolution: How Business, Government, and Social Enterprises Are Teaming Up to Solve Society's Toughest Problems

“Beyond the US Army’s apps platform, it seems that every industry today relies upon some form of platform business model—many of them internet-based. Doctors quickly cross-check prescriptions to identify interactions between drugs, job-seekers exchange insights about various employers, and property values and other attributes of a given zip code are easily comparable. Successful platforms in a solution economy exhibit one or more of these three characteristics: (1) they invite participants to collaborate and exchange at little or no cost; (2) they encourage decentralized, user-generated content; and (3) they enable average citizens to contribute to problem solving.”
― William D. Eggers, The Solution Revolution: How Business, Government, and Social Enterprises Are Teaming Up to Solve Society's Toughest Problems

“Gyan Shala (Hindi for “a school for knowledge or wisdom”) offers the poor an extremely cheap and effective private school option by renting single classrooms in slums and employing local women from the informal sector as teachers.”
― William D. Eggers, The Solution Revolution: How Business, Government, and Social Enterprises Are Teaming Up to Solve Society's Toughest Problems

“Not all good works can turn a profit, but profits can be directed toward good. As Warren Buffett explains, “I’ve worked in an economy that rewards someone who saves the lives of others on a battlefield with a medal, rewards a great teacher with thank-you notes from parents, but rewards those who can detect the mispricing of securities with sums reaching into the billions.”
― William D. Eggers, The Solution Revolution: How Business, Government, and Social Enterprises Are Teaming Up to Solve Society's Toughest Problems