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Textbook Lean Impact How To Innovate For Radically Greater Social Good Ann Mei Chang Ebook All Chapter PDF
Textbook Lean Impact How To Innovate For Radically Greater Social Good Ann Mei Chang Ebook All Chapter PDF
Textbook Lean Impact How To Innovate For Radically Greater Social Good Ann Mei Chang Ebook All Chapter PDF
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More Advance Acclaim for Lean Impact
“Run, don’t walk, to buy this book if you are interested in innovation
or simply in finding solutions to our world’s current problems. Lean
Impact is smart and thoughtful, a mix of head and heart, practical
and yet full of hope. Ann Mei Chang’s wisdom will provide a useful
guide for how to think, and more important, how to act.”
—Jacqueline Novogratz, CEO, Acumen
“Innovation and scale are two of the hottest topics in the social sector
today – yet that attention has not yet led to nearly enough break-
through ideas achieving widespread impact. Ann Mei Chang’s book
Lean Impact explains why current approaches limit our impact and
what we can do to fix that. Based on deep work across sectors, Chang
offers fresh insights into how leaders can chart a path from innova-
tion to impact at scale. An important read for all those seeking
change – in the United States and around the world.”
—Jeffrey L. Bradach, Managing Partner
and Cofounder, Bridgespan Group
“To tackle the intractable problems that our world faces today, we
need effective methodologies for innovation. Lean Impact provides
compelling tools and techniques for developing solutions with
positive social impact that are highly complementary to human‐
centered design.”
—Jocelyn Wyatt, CEO, IDEO.org
“For years innovation has lagged in the social change sector. This is
starting to change but not nearly fast enough. Lean Impact is a timely
wake‐up call and a practical approach for social entrepreneurs and
change makers everywhere. It should be required reading for funders
and practitioners who are committed to bigger, better impact and
smart solutions for our toughest challenges.”
—Neal Keny‐Guyer, CEO, Mercy Corps
“Innovation and smart risk‐taking are the norm in Silicon Valley, but
less so in the social sector. That’s because of how we fund, account
for costs, and tell stories. Ann Mei Chang, with a foot in both of
these worlds, has given us a blueprint for how to do things differ-
ently. The result is required reading for philanthropists and leaders of
nonprofits and a recipe for better conversations all around.”
—Alix Zwane, CEO, Global Innovation Fund
LEAN
IMPACT
LEAN
IMPACT
How to Innovate for Radically
Greater Social Good
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10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For the women who have been
my role models, mentors, and inspiration on this journey
Foreword xiii
Introduction 1
Part I INSPIRE
One Innovation Is the Path, Impact Is the
Destination 13
Two What Is Your Audacious Goal? 27
Three Love the Problem, Not Your Solution 39
Four Finding the “Big Idea” 53
Five Lessons from The Lean Startup 61
Part II VALIDATE
Six Start Small, Iterate Fast 85
Seven Value 105
Eight Growth 129
Nine Impact 155
Disclosures 261
Acknowledgments 263
About the Author 269
Index 271
Foreword
organizations will also pick it up and, after reading about the dedi-
cated people and clear strategies whose stories Ann Mei has gathered,
think about how the products and institutions they build affect the
world. All of us have more to learn about how we make impact so we
can move together into this new era.
—Eric Ries, author of The Lean Startup and The Startup Way
Introduction
A s I lie on the roof of a small boat puttering down the Ywe River,
drifting past lush vegetation punctuated by the occasional flash of
bright gold from the stupa of a Buddhist shrine, my mind turns over a
jumble of insights from an eye‐opening day. I had arrived in the
Irrawaddy Delta region of Myanmar the night before, after flying
halfway around the world and bumping along for eight hours on largely
unpaved roads. Following a restless night in the best local guesthouse
listening to my neighbor’s hacking cough through thin walls that rose
a foot short of the ceiling, I had eagerly embarked on one of my first
field visits to witness the noble work being done to fight global poverty.
Myanmar was at a critical juncture. Life was gradually returning
to normal after the 2008 devastation of Cyclone Nargis, which had
killed almost 100,000 people. Hope for a brighter future was swell-
ing, following the release of pro‐democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi
from house arrest and the first open parliamentary elections in
decades. Yet, many people remained desperately poor, toiled on small
family farms, and eked out an average income of less than two dollars
a day. The program I was here to visit worked with some of these
Lean Impact: How to Innovate for Radically Greater Social Good, First Edition. Ann Mei Chang.
© 2019 Ann Mei Chang. Published 2019 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
2 Lean Impact
it possible to do better? After the allotted four years, the program was
slated to end whether it was working or not. Never mind if more
help was needed there or in a neighboring area. The team could keep
their fingers crossed for a new grant or another donor to take interest.
Otherwise, it would be time to pack up and go home.
Back on the boat, as I soaked in the warm January sunshine, I
thought that there had to be a better way. People are working so hard
to make a difference, and yet their hands are tied. Executing a rigid,
one‐off program is no way to deliver the most impact for the most
people. We could do so much more. Over the course of my subsequent
travels to countries as far afield as Liberia, Uganda, Zimbabwe,
Guatemala, India, and Mongolia, I saw a similar scenario repeated
over and over again.
I decided to devote the second half of my career to understanding
these perverse dynamics and finding a way to improve the system.
This may seem like an unusual reaction. Most people return from
field visits with a burning passion to help the people or habitats
they have seen, not grapple with the bureaucratic processes and
management philosophy behind the work. But, I’m an engineer.
Seven years ago, after over 20 years in the tech industry, I made
a long‐planned transition to spend the second half of my career try-
ing to make the world a better place. That may sound trite, but it
really was that simple. As much as I loved the challenges of building
software, I knew I wanted to do something more meaningful in my
life. The question was what. I certainly wasn’t an expert in poverty
alleviation, healthcare, education, conservation, human rights, or
anything else that seemed to matter. And, having long ago moved
from software engineering into management roles, I wasn’t even par-
ticularly qualified to write code. Nevertheless, I plunged in with the
sincere hope of finding a worthwhile way to contribute beyond
merely stuffing envelopes.
4 Lean Impact
2
Eric Ries, The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation
to Create Radically Successful Businesses (New York: Crown Business, 2011).
3
Eric Ries, The Startup Way: How Modern Companies Use Entrepreneurial
Management to Transform Culture & Drive Long-Term Growth (New York: Currency,
2017).
Introduction 7
4
Nidhi Sahni, Laura Lanzerotti, Amira Bliss, and Daniel Pike, “Is Your Nonprofit
Built for Sustained Innovation?” Stanford Social Innovation Review, August 1, 2017,
https://ssir.org/articles/entry/is_your_nonprofit_built_for_sustained_innovation.
8 Lean Impact
Lean Impact will help those working to build and scale social
interventions – from nonprofit staff to social entrepreneurs to corpo-
rate project managers – deliver dramatically better results. It will help
those funding social good – from foundations to government
agencies to philanthropists to impact investors – create the incentives
that enable social innovation to thrive. It will help local, state,
national, and international governments support measured risk tak-
ing and adopt more effective interventions for public good. And,
amidst a rising tide of citizens inspired to contribute to society
through their time, work, and money, it will help the broader public
recognize the pathways that can maximize their own impact.
I don’t claim to have all the answers. Rather, I hope to help us all
ask the crucial questions that will steer us towards a more promising
path forward. This book draws on my interviews and visits with over
200 organizations across the United States and around the world,
with diverse roles and structures, tackling a wide range of social chal-
lenges. I have learned from and been inspired by their practical expe-
riences, successes, and failures, and hope you will be as well.
For this journey, all you need is genuine curiosity and a readiness
to take action. Even small steps can make a huge difference. If you’re
not sure where to start, turn to the next page.
Part I
Inspire
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A. D. 1897 (Zanzibar).
Abolition of slavery.
AFRICA: A. D. 1899.
Railway development.
"Article I.
From the coming into force of the present Convention, the
import duty on spirituous liquors, as that duty is regulated
by the General Act of Brussels, shall be raised throughout the
zone where there does not exist the system of total
prohibition provided by Article XCI, of the said General Act,
to the rate of 70 fr. the hectolitre at 50 degrees centigrade,
for a period of six years. It may, exceptionally, be at the
rate of 60 fr. only the hectolitre at 50 degrees centigrade in
the Colony of Togo and in that of Dahomey. The import duty
shall be augmented proportionally for each degree above 50
degrees centigrade; It may be diminished proportionally for
each degree below 50 degrees centigrade. At the end of the
above-mentioned period of six years, the import duty shall be
submitted to revision, taking as a basis the results produced
by the preceding rate. The Powers retain the right of
maintaining and increasing the duty beyond the minimum fixed
by the present Article in the regions where they now possess
that right.
Article II.
In accordance with Article XCIII of the General Act of
Brussels, distilled drinks made in the regions mentioned in
Article XCII of the said General Act, and intended for
consumption, shall pay an excise duty. This excise duty, the
collection of which the Powers undertake to insure as far as
possible, shall not be lower than the minimum import duty
fixed by Article I. of the present Convention.
Article III.
It is understood that the Powers who signed the General Act of
Brussels, or who have acceded to it, and who are not
represented at the present Conference, preserve the right of
acceding to the present Convention."
AFRICA: A. D. 1899.
Progress of the Telegraph line from the Cape to Cairo.
AFRICA: A. D. 1899-1900.
Summary of the partition of the Continent.
"Seven European nations, as before remarked, now control
territories in Africa, two of them having areas equal in each
case to about the entire land area of the United States, while
a few small territories remain as independent States.
Beginning at the northeast, Egypt and Tripoli are nominally at
least tributaries of Turkey, though the Egyptian Government,
which was given large latitude by that of Turkey, has of late
years formed such relations with Great Britain that, in
financial matters at least, her guidance is recognized; next
west, Algeria, French; then Morocco on the extreme northwest,
an independent Government and an absolute despotism; next on
the south, Spain's territory of Rio de Oro; then the Senegal
territories, belonging to the French, and connecting through
the desert of Sahara with her Algeria; then a group of small
divisions controlled by England, along the Gulf of Guinea;
then Liberia, the black Republic; Togoland, controlled by the
Germans; Dahomey, a French protectorate; the Niger territory,
one-third the size of the United States, controlled by
England; Kamerun, controlled by Germany; French Kongo; then
the Kongo Free State, under the auspices of the King of
Belgium, and occupying the very heart of equatorial Africa;
then Portuguese Angola; next, German South west Africa; and
finally in the march down the Atlantic side, Cape Colony,
British.
{5}
Following up the eastern side comes the British colony of
Natal; then just inland from this the two Boer Republics, the
Orange Free State and the South African Republic, both of
which are entirely in the interior, without ocean frontage;
next, Portuguese Africa, and west of this the great territory
known as 'Rhodesia'; then German Africa, which extends almost
to the equator; north of these, British East Africa, fronting
on the Indian Ocean, and merging northwardly with the Egyptian
Sudan, which was recently recovered from the Mahdi by the joint
operation of British and Egyptian troops, and the British flag
placed side by side with that of Egypt; next north, upon the
coast, Italian territory and a small tract opposite the
entrance to the Red Sea controlled by England; and a few
hundred miles west of the entrance to the Red Sea, the
independent Kingdom of Abyssinia. This division of African
territory, nearly all of it made within the memory of the
present generation, forms the present political map of Africa.
With England and France controlling an area equal in each case
to that of the United States; Germany, a territory one-third
the size of the United States; Portugal, with an area somewhat
less; the Kongo Free State in the great equatorial basin, but
having a frontage upon the Atlantic with an area nearly
one-third that of the United States; Italy and Spain, each
with a comparatively small area of territory; Egypt, with
relations quite as much British as Turkish; Tripoli, Turkish,
and the five independent States of Morocco, Liberia,
Abyssinia, and the two Boer Republics—nothing remains
unclaimed, even in the desert wastes, while in the high
altitudes and subtropical climate of southeast Africa
civilization and progress are making rapid advancement."
United States Bureau of Statistics,
Monthly Summary, August, 1899.
POP.
TOTAL FOREIGN PER SQ.
AREA. POPULATION. POPULATION MILE IMPORTS.
EXPORTS.
French Africa. 3,028,000 28,155,000 922,000 9.3
$70,116,000 $69,354,000
British Africa. 2,761,000 35,160,000 455,000 12.8
131,398,000 131,835,000
Turkish Africa. 1,760,000 21,300,000 113,000 12.2
54,091,000 62,548,000
German Africa. 944,000 11,270,000 4,000 12.0
4,993,000 2,349,000
Belgian Africa. 900,000 30,000,000 2,000 33.3
4,522,000 3,309,000
Portuguese Africa. 790,000 8,059,000 3,000 10.2
11,863,000 6,730,000
Spanish Africa. 243,000 36,000 … 0.5
… …
Italian Africa. 188,000 850,000 … 4.5
… …
Independent States.
AFRIKANDER CONGRESS.
See (in this volume)
SOUTH AFRICA (Cape Colony): A. D. 1900 (DECEMBER).
AFRIKANDERS:
Joining the invading Boers.
AFRIKANDERS:
Opposition to the annexation of the Boer Republics.
{6}
ALABAMA: A. D. 1899.
Dispensary Laws.
ALASKA: A. D. 1898-1899.
Discovery of the Cape Nome gold mining region.
"The news of a rich strike at Nome worked its way up the Yukon
River during the winter, and as soon as the ice broke in June
a large crowd came down from Rampart City, followed by a
larger crowd from Dawson. The 'Yukoners,' as these people were
called, were already disgusted with the hardships,
disappointments, and Canadian misgovernment which they had met
with on the upper river. … Those to whom enough faith had been
given to go over to Cape Nome were disgusted and angered to
find that pretty much the whole district was already staked,
and that the claims taken were two or three times as large as
those commonly allowed on the upper river. Another grievance
was the great abuse of the power of attorney, by means of
which an immense number of claims had been taken up, so that
in many cases (according to common report) single individuals
held or controlled from 50 to 100 claims apiece. …
"A year ago [that is, in the winter of 1898-1899] a few Eskimo
huts and one or two sod houses of white men were the only
human habitations along 60 miles of the present Nome coast.
Last June [1899] a dozen or score of tents contained the whole
population. By October a town of 5,000 inhabitants fronting
the ocean was crowded for a mile or more along the beach.
Hundreds of galvanized-iron and wooden buildings were
irregularly scattered along two or three thoroughfares,
running parallel with the coast line. There is every
description of building, from the dens of the poor
prospectors, built of driftwood, canvas, and sod, to the large
companies' warehouses, stores, and the army barracks—a city,
as it were, sprung up in the night, built under the most
adverse circumstances on the barren seacoast, a coast without
harbor, all the supplies being landed through the surf. … The
country contributes nothing toward the support of the
population except a few fish and a limited supply of
driftwood.
{8}
ALASKA: A. D. 1900.
Civil Government.
ALASKA: A. D. 1900.
Exploration of Seward peninsula.
"III.
The line of demarcation between the possessions of the High
Contracting Parties upon the Coasts of the Continent and the
Islands of America to the North-West, shall be drawn in the
following manner: Commencing from the southernmost point of
the Island called Prince of Wales Island, which point lies in
the parallel of 54 degrees 40 minutes, North Latitude, and
between the 131st and 133d Degree of West Longitude (Meridian
of Greenwich), the said line shall ascend to the North along
the Channel called Portland Channel, as far as the Point of
the Continent where it strikes the 56th Degree of North
Latitude; from this last mentioned Point the line of
demarcation shall follow the summit of the mountains situated
parallel to the coast, as far as the point of intersection of
the 141st Degree of West Longitude (of the same meridian),
and, finally, from the said point of intersection, the said
Meridian Line of the 141st Degree, in its prolongation as far
as the Frozen Ocean, shall form the limit between the Russian
and British Possessions on the Continent of America to the
North West.
"IV.
With reference to the line of demarcation laid down in the
preceding Article, it is understood:
1st.
That the Island called Prince of Wales Island shall belong
wholly to Russia.
2d.
That wherever the summit of the mountains which extend in a
direction parallel to the Coast, from the 56th Degree of North
Latitude to the point of intersection of the 141st Degree of
West Longitude, shall prove to be at the distance of more than
ten marine leagues from the Ocean, the limit between the
British Possessions and the line of Coast which is to belong
to Russia, as above mentioned, shall be formed by a line
parallel to the windings of the Coast, and which shall never
exceed the distance of ten marine leagues therefrom."
Map of Alaska.
H. Townsend,
The Alaskan Boundary Question
(Fortnightly Review, September, 1899).
ALEXANDRIA:
Discovery of the Serapeion.
ALEXANDRIA:
Patriarchate re-established.
AMATONGALAND:
Annexed, with Zululand, to Natal.
AMERICA:
The Projected Intercontinental Railway.
AMERICA, Central.
AMERICAN ABORIGINES.