It has been enjoyable and encouraging to get so many private and public messages (including online reviews) from people across the world about how valuable my book Changing the World Without Losing Your Mind has been to them. It was published nearly two years ago and I still get a few charming affirmations from readers each and every week.
And yet something has gnawed at me as this book has gained a following. Written in the pre-Covid era, its treatment of managing crises mainly deals with those specific to an organization rather than those caused by a national or global shock. With that gap in mind, late last year my publisher and I decided to come out with a second edition this year. We have tentatively settled on mid-May for publication.
I have written a new introduction and an epilogue. Both of these additions describe the top lessons I have learned in my career that can be applied to current and future public health, economic, and environmental catastrophes. I tapped my experiences – warts and scars and all – of leading Grameen Foundation through the post 9/11 period and in the aftermath of the Great Recession.
I have also taken the opportunity to touch up the manuscript from top to bottom. It has long been cleansed of the handful of typos that were in the first few hundred copies that were printed. But I went through every page of the manuscript and found dozens of word choices that I wanted to tweak this way or that. It’s more readable now.
One of the things I added to the introduction that was not related to Covid was a section about new insights I have gained about the power of always being a novice at something (usually a hobby) that you really care about – a technique I explore in chapter 15 titled “Beginner’s Mind.” Several of my new takes on this method came from the journalist Tom Vanderbilt’s terrific book Beginners: The Joy and Transformative Power of Lifelong Learning that I recently devoured.
It was comforting to learn that someone else not only had a similar insight but also wrote a thoughtful book explaining in convincing detail exactly why learning new skills (as opposed to simply gaining more knowledge) has the ability to enhance well-being, creativity, curiosity, and playfulness. For example, Vanderbilt cites research that Nobel laureates are 22 times more likely to be an amateur actor, dancer, or magician than other scientists.
He also includes this quote form Steve Jobs after being fired from Apple and just before he began an intensely creative period: “…the heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything.” I can certainly identify with the lightness I felt from my hobbies during my last 10 years running Grameen Foundation – lightness that that carried over to when I sat back down I the CEO hotseat.
Naturally, we will include an excerpt from the excellent Kirkus Review that came out a few weeks ago on the new front cover. We have figured out how to take pre-orders for the first time, and will be working with Amazon to transfer the 47 reviews of the first edition so they appear with the second. This version will also refer to my latest book, When in Doubt, Ask for More – a simplified presentation of my most important life and career lessons.
While my book Small Loans, Big Dreams was essentially a post Nobel Prize version of Give Us Credit, this update of Changing the World is my first true second edition of any of my books. I hope that readers of the first edition will support it – if not by purchasing it, then by suggesting that people and organizations involved in mission-driven work purchase copies. I plan to have a webinar on the launch date and also to convene my friends, mentors, and fans of the book to brainstorm how to get the word out. Let me know if you would like to join!
So much in the world needs fixing right now. There is no time to spare. For my part, I am engaged in causes as diverse as civics education in Liberia, U.S. election reform, climate change, battling the pandemic in India, and advocating for children in foster care. I hope this book can serve as a tool and as a source of useful ideas and vital inspiration to my brothers and sisters around the world who are working to better society. Our future depends on them. We should all give them our best. In this new book, I have tried to do so.