2023 Summer Social Innovation Reading List

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Are you looking for inspirational reading material for a lazy afternoon at the park or downtime next to the lake? Check out these books, all recently excerpted in SSIR, that share pioneering ideas about boosting your entrepreneurial instincts, technology in the nonprofit workplace, and more. Need something a little shorter? Then catch up on recent in-depth article series from SSIR that explore unconventional perspectives on leadership, fashion’s environmental impact, and the big questions about the future of social innovation.

Don’t Lead Alone: Think Like a System, Act Like a Network, Lead Like a Movement! by Cleveland Justis & Daniel Student

The title says it all. The authors write: “Most of us learn leadership and collaboration skills through trial and error and often failure. Worse, we typically stay in our self-reinforcing silos, sharing perspectives and frustrations with like-minded people, limiting our vision of what we can accomplish with people different than ourselves.” Don’t Lead Alone shows readers how to connect their work to others.

The Everyday Feminist: The Key to Sustainable Social Impact Driving Movements We Need Now More than Ever by Latanya Mapp Frett

Explore stories of the everyday feminists working across sectors: “Grassroots feminists are loudly standing up like never before, joining the protests in Iran or saying ‘me too’ worldwide. These grassroots activists and movements are one of the most effective levers for progress on gender justice as well as other social issues.”

Creative Hustle: Blaze Your Own Path and Make Work That Matters by Olatunde Sobomehin & sam seidel

Do you want to be a more creative problem solver? Creative Hustle can help you do just that. The authors write: “Dreaming big is often belittled as unrealistic or naive. Yet if we want to break out of the status quo to build a more beautiful world, we need to hone that childlike creativity and couple it with our entrepreneurial instincts.”

Emotional Justice: A Roadmap for Racial Healing by Esther A. Armah

Add this title to your reading list and come away with a better sense of the emotional work people of all races must do to pursue healing from systemic inequities: “‘Intimate revolution’ is one of four emotional justice love languages designed to make racial healing a sustainable, systemic engagement, and not just a box-ticking exercise that disregards entrenched systemic inequity, and the emotional life that sustains that inequity.”

Ideaflow: The Only Business Metric That Matters by Jeremy Utley & Perry Klebahn

“Is this idea any good?” This book offers a proven strategy for routinely generating and commercializing breakthrough ideas: “What distinguishes world-class entrepreneurs and business leaders from the rest is not having better ideas, but having better methods for evaluating ideas.”

Rules for Whistleblowers: A Handbook for Doing What’s Right by Stephen M. Kohn

Whistleblowers are the heroes in this rulebook for fighting fraud and corruption. The author, one of the nation’s leading whistleblower attorneys, examines whistleblower laws and programs that are getting it right: “As the frauds get bigger, we have an increased duty to educate, empower, and protect those coming forward with insider information.” From corporate crime to national security and the Espionage Act, this book is a must-read on how to proctect those stepping forward to do what’s right.

Reprise from last summer: The Smart Nonprofit: Staying Human-Centered in an Automated World by Beth Kanter and Allison Fine

With AI and Chatbot GPT in the headlines, we once again recommend reading The Smart Nonprofit. The authors raise important questions and concerns for nonprofit leaders to consider when it comes to balancing technology and the needs of people inside and outside their organizations: “Grabbing software off-the-shelf that is ‘smart’ may look like a technical decision; at its heart it is a deeply and profoundly human challenge that requires informed leadership to do well.”

Global Perspectives on Mental Health and Social Change (In-Depth Series)

Summer is generally a time for vacation or a lighter workload, but for many social change leaders, it can be a challenge to truly step away. In this article series, leaders from the Catalyst 2030 Mental Health Collaboration explore how the integration of mental health and social change can lead to lasting impact.

Recognizing Leadership in All Its Forms (In-Depth Series)

These essays promise to expand your thinking as authors offer inspiration and tools for advancing leadership that disrupts structural injustices. They also share their experiences navigating the unavoidable and necessary messiness that comes with changing an established field.

Up for Debate: Fashion’s Circularity Spin

Can the fashion industry make a successful turn to a circular business model? Former Timerberland COO Ken Pucker explains the industry’s turn to circularity and the barriers to its adoption, and researchers and experts in the sector respond. Don’t miss this topical discussion on environmental impact!

SSIR Celebrates 20 Years: The Future of Social Innovation

To mark SSIR’s 20th anniversary, we asked some of the world’s leading researchers, thinkers, and practitioners to contribute their thoughts about the challenges that lie ahead and how the field of social innovation should evolve to meet them. This fascinating collection of essays covers a wide variety of topics that are certain to provoke your thinking on everything from philanthropy to organizational learning.

Read more stories by SSIR Editors.