384. 9 Tools for Creating Social Impact - Jacob Harold

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Overview

Meet Jacob. This former Greenpeace activist, social change strategist and former President and CEO of Guidestar (now Candid) has seen social movements rise to make lasting impact in our world. His recent book “The Toolbox: Methods and Mindsets for Maximizing Social Impact” is the book for changemakers, and he’s exploring 9️⃣ concepts of community-building and lessons for social change 🙌Tune in for this deep dive into social impact case studies, tools, strategies and so much more.

💡 Learn

Methods and Mindsets for Maximizing Social Impact
Do’s and Don’ts of Creating a Social Movement
Tools to create a true and lasting impact

Today’s Guest

Jacob Harold, Social Change Strategist + Author

“It turns out that under certain circumstances, the right thing to do is in fact the strategic thing to do.”

— Jacob Harold, Social Change Strategist + Author

Episode Transcript

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Episode Highlights

Jacob’s story and journey to where he is today (2:30)
9 Tools (10:00)
Game Theory (12:30)
Design Thinking (17:00)
Do’s and Don’ts of social movements (26:00)
A powerful moment of philanthropy in Jacob’s life (38:00)
Jacob’s One Good Thing: Ground yourself in purpose and ethics. (41:00)

POWERFUL QUOTES

“If you're constantly curious and iterative, that is going to grow and grow as you continue to listen and learn.” -Becky

“Abundance is at the heart of what I wanted to do with this book.” -Jacob

“When you looked at the social sector, what you actually saw was so many people who picked one framework and viewed the entire world through that lens. They usually had good reason, the framework was usually really thoughtful, but it was never complete.” -Jacob

“I started to get frustrated by that, by those who said, it is only about the story we tell, or it's only about the mathematical analysis that we do, or it's only about figuring out the nuances of human behavior, or it's only about using a market to scale a particular approach.” -Jacob

“It turns out that under certain circumstances, the right thing to do is in fact the strategic thing to do.” -Jacob

“I've really come to believe that, you know, being kind actually can be really good strategy.” -Jacob

“Because of the way the world is changing, community organizing is changing, too, and has not really caught up with the shifts that we've seen in how people communicate with each other, how they connect, how they build relationships.” -Jacob

“We still face a puzzle as a society of what does it mean to build power and build relationships in this modern world where we can sometimes feel so fragmented. I don't know how it's gonna play out, but I do know that these two elements of relationships and power are going to be important in the next iterations of community organizing.” -Jacob

“The fact that we have different perspectives is a strength, not a weakness. We have to articulate it out loud and think about how we're going to use this.” -Jacob

“Institutions are just patterns of behavior. They don't have to be an organization, the concept of marriage, or a high school reunion, or the neighborhood barbecue can all be institutions.” -Jacob

“Part of sustainability is thinking about what are those patterns that you want to continue?” -Jacob

“The right email list, becomes its own community becomes its own ecosystem.” -Jacob

“Often there's not truly an enemy, a villain in a black cloak. There's just a situation that you're fighting against and that is the enemy.” -Jacob

“Storytelling gives us a framework to think about strategy.” -Jacob

“Love, trust, wonder, justice.” -Jacob