Thesocialecosystem.Apulsating,thrivingcommunityofverydiverse,attimesdivisiveplayers,alldrivenbyacommonmission:tochangetheworldforthebetter.
Itisapotentforceontheplanet.Anditisgrowing.
Itisorganizedaroundseveralmillioncivilsocietygroupswithapresenceineverycountryintheworld.Morethan20,000ofthesegroupsoperateacrossborders.Itisequivalentinsizetotheworld'sfifth-largestcountry,spendingmorethanUS$1.9trillionayear,andprovidingmorethan4.8millionfull-timeequivalentjobs.
Toaccomplishitsmission,thesocialecosystememploysamyriadoftoolsandapproaches.Eachplayerhasitsown,defined,butcontinuallyevolving,roletoplay.Therearethosewhoneedhelp(beneficiaries),thosewhohelp(socialpurposeorganizations),andthosewhohelpthosehelping(thecapacitybuilders).Thesecoreplayersdependuponthewidercommunity,themedia,andthegovernmentforsupport.Indeed,theycanbesoeffectivethathalfofthepopulationsinsomecountriesaremobilizedtotheircause.
Thereare,ofcourse,problemsanddifficulties.Forasmuchasthesocialecosystemisaboutchange,itisalsobesetbytheforcesofchange.Entertheneophilanthropistswhoseektointroducemarketandbusinesspractices,someofwhichappeartobeatoddswiththevaluesofthesocialworld.Andfromwithinthesector,newheroes—thesocialentrepreneurs—areemergingtocreatesocialchangeonanunprecedentedscaleinnewpattern-changingways.Meanwhile,thepoweroftechnologyandinnovationtofomentdisruptivechangeisenablingnewpossibilitiesandoutcomes.Thedemandsofaccountabilityplacedbycivilsocietyplayersoncorporationsandgovernmentsarereboundingonthem.Allthesefactors,andmore,aretransformingthesocialecosystemevenasitseekstotransformthelargerworld.
TheWorldthatChangestheWorldsetsout,forthefirsttime,aholistic,complete,anddetailedviewofthefascinatingsocialecosystem:whatitis,whatitcouldbe,andwhereitcouldbegoing.
Thebookbringstogethertwentyoneinternationalauthorswhosharetheirperspectivesandinsightsonvariousfacetsofthesocialecosystem,thechangedriversandthemacro-trends.Wellknownthoughtleaders,captainsoftheindustryandexpertsintheirfieldsamongthem,AlanWebber,GeoffMulgan,JohnElkington,StephenYoungandKumiNaidoo-theyareallheavyweightsinthesocialspacewhocanbestdescribethepresentandfutureofthesocialecosystem.