The Age of the Unreasonable

If you expect governments to solve the world’s big problems you must be kidding. Big businesses, after years of following Milton Friedman’s advice of pure capitalism, are only now talking of benign capitalism. Bill Gates calls it ‘Creative Capitalism’.Yet, big problems such as global poverty, diseases, basic education and funding for running simple businesses,persist in good measure.

Only a few ‘Unreasonable’ people – those who go out to solve problems with unorthodox methods– can bring sanity to the Planet. The Power of Unreasonable People: How Social Entrepreneurs Create Markets that Change the World, just out of the Harvard Press (Feb.08), John Elkington and Pamela Hartigan, capture the lives of a few brave people who are making a big difference.

Revealing the intriguing mindsets and winning strategies of some of the world’s most unconventional entrepreneurs, the book shows how these pioneers are solving some of the world’s most Pressing economic, social, and environmental problems - and in the process are creating fast-growing markets across the globe.

“Doing well by doing good”, a controversial idea only five years ago, has now become conventional wisdom. The Power of Unreasonable People illustrates how businesses and non-profits can generate social return on their investments.

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