Changemaker Playbook: The New Physics of Leadership in a World of Explosive Change

by Henry De Sio

Overview

Silver Medal Winner in Business and Leadership, 2023 Nautilus Book Awards 
Winner for Best Business (General) Book, 2022 International Best Book Awards. 
Winner for Best Nonfiction (General) Book, 2022 Best Book Awards. 
Silver Medal Winner in Business Ethics, 2022 Axiom Business Book Awards.

“The game has changed, so how do you respond? Changemaker Playbook offers a new game plan on leaderships that everyone needs for a world in which change is the only constant.”—Pete Souza, #1 New York Times bestselling author

“Changemaker Playbook is filled with stories of everyday changemakers who have the courage to act on their empathy. This book is a true blueprint for how we rise above our differences, come together, and fix real problems.” —Van Jones, CNN political contributor, host of The Van Jones Show, and best-selling author


The Game Has Changed!

What would you do if the game you had been preparing for your whole life had changed?

This is the question we all face today. Our one-leader-at-a-time past has given way to a present reality where everyone has the potential to lead in every aspect of life. We all have at our fingertips the tools of change that were once available to only a few. This shift from one-leader-at-a-time to everyone-leading-in-every-moment has created a changemaker effect on society. Change is no longer linear and faster, it's explosive and omnidirectional—and we are the first generation to navigate this reordered reality.

Our iEverything world requires a new playbook.

CHANGEMAKER PLAYBOOK will show you how to thrive in every aspect of today's transformed societal landscape. Based on the author’s discoveries about leading in change from some of the world’s leading changemakers — business and social entrepreneurs, educators, media thought leaders, and youth innovators — readers can apply the principles in this book to the new everyone-a-changemaker world. An unforgettable tutorial on the principles of empathy-based ethics, co-creative teamwork, and the ins and outs of the new game, CHANGEMAKER PLAYBOOK is as much a new leadership handbook as it is the definitive individual and organizational achievement playbook.

This is the new playbook for the new game.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781529330199
Publisher:	Mobius
Publication date:	03/30/2021
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.90(d)

About the Author

Hon. Henry F. De Sio, Jr., is known as the global ambassador for changemakers. He is an author, keynote speaker, campaign strategist, and leadership advisor. He has served as the executive of both startups and large, complex organizations. As the 2008 Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, and then serving as Deputy Assistant to the President in the Obama White House during the first administration, De Sio came to be intimately acquainted with a new emerging pattern of societal change. He has since followed his campaign-driven passion for hope and change to make changemaking a global phenomenon.

De Sio has engaged with the world’s leading social and business entrepreneurs, and he has brought the powerful framework of new leadership and team-of-teams organization described in Changemaker Playbook to board rooms, newsrooms, community forums, university institutions, and governmental halls all over the world. He's helped civic and business leaders, parents and educators, and everyone across the social spectrum to cultivate in themselves and in others the qualities of the changemaker: an innovative mind, a service heart, an entrepreneurial spirit, and a collaborative outlook.

Henry De Sio holds a master’s degree in public administration from Harvard's Kennedy School, and he earned his B.A. in political science from the University of California-Santa Barbara. He currently lives in Arlington, Virginia, with his wife, Sine, and their two young sons.

Table of Contents

Section 1 The New Game 1

Chapter 1 The New Nature of Change 3

It's a New Game 5

The Old Playbook Won't Work in the New Game 7

Meet the New-Game Players 10

Chapter 2 The Physics of Leadership Are Flipped 15

Hope and Chaos 16

Growing Up Siloed 17

Change on Steroids 19

Everyone a Leader 20

Rethinking Leadership in the Everyone-Leads System 22

The New Rules for the New Game 24

Scaling for Change 28

Chapter 3 Everyone a Changemaker 31

Journey Out of the Bubble 34

Trending Now 35

We See What We Expect 38

Everyone in Everyone Else's Business 39

Innovator for the Public 42

Chapter 4 Follow the Fool 47

The Fool as Social Entrepreneur 52

From Repetition to Change 54

Built for Repetition 58

Section 2 What You Need to Know to Play 65

Chapter 5 Empathy Is the Driver 67

Empathy for the Driver 71

Close the Empathy Gap 75

Discovering the Empathy Effect 77

The Art of Kindness 79

Elevating Empathy 81

Chapter 6 Define Thyself 83

Breaking the Box 85

Claim Your Frame 91

Maternity as a Master's 96

With Self-Definition Comes Self-Permission 98

Chapter 7 Tear Down Walls 101

Walls No More 102

Breaking Out of the Shadows and into the Light 107

The Courage to Jump In 110

Superpower for Social Change 113

The Last Wall 116

Chapter 8 Changing Minds Changes Behavior 119

Shopping for a New Perspective 120

Lady with a Spade 121

Lady with the Lamp 125

Creating a Dignity-Driven Economy 128

Picture-Telling 133

The New Playbook for the New Game 135

Section 3 Framework Change 139

Chapter 9 The Changemaker Youth Apprenticeship 141

Putting a Team Around an Idea 143

Educate for Change 144

Learning From Our Littlest Learners 146

Changemaking for Kindergarteners 147

Teams of Teams on the Playground 148

Seeing the Big Picture 149

Sea of Strangers 150

Leaving to Learn 153

Chapter 10 Lead Young 159

Greening the Food Desert 161

Headwinds in Patagonia 164

Changemakers Pass It Forward 167

Serial Changemaking 170

Your Kid 174

Chapter 11 Getting Changemaker-Ready 177

The New Strategic Landscape 178

The New Framework for the New Game 181

Unbundle Learning 182

Walking Through the Tough Stuff 185

Protect Your Courage 187

See Big, Think Big, Play Big 190

"Social Response Ability" 194

Chapter 12 For the Good of All 197

Valuing Dignity over Status 198

Playing It Forward 201

The Club Nobody Wants to Join 204

Changemaking Leads to Community 206

The Generous Choice 208

The Big Breakthrough 212

Final Word 215

Matters for Chatter 217

Changemaker in the Mirror 220

Notes 221

Acknowledgments 231

About the Author 237

Index 239

Editorial Reviews

Change and disruption define our present and foreseeable business operating climate. Changemaker Playbook offers readers a leadership-paradigm-shifting and thought-provoking way forward to achieving successful business engagement.”
 —- Ertharin Cousin, former US Ambassador to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture, Forbes’ The World's 100 Most Powerful Women, and TIME’s 100 Most Influential People in the World

“Changemaker Playbook is a powerful new leadership framework and organizational model for working in teams of teams, powered by the idea that when we put ourselves in the shoes of those who are struggling or are on the margins—if we can genuinely understand the world from their perspective—then we can take care of business and solve society's most urgent and pressing issues.”
 —- Jostein Solheim, former CEO at Ben & Jerry’s and senior business executive at Unilever

“This is the story only Henry De Sio can tell. For more than a decade Henry has been the global ambassador for changemakers, bringing this powerful framework to leaders across sectors all over the world. This is the definitive playbook for the new game of living in complexity, with a clear roadmap for preparing our children to thrive and for lifting each other above the challenges before us.”
 —Maja Frankel, secretary-general at Friends: United Against Bullying

“The pace of change in our world is accelerating, and regardless of your profession, you need to adjust your approach to face the challenges of this new terrain. Drawing on his transformative work leading a winning presidential campaign and later, working with remarkable social entrepreneurs across the globe, Henry De Sio shows us how everyday people can come together to do extraordinary things. Changemaker Playbook is the new leadership handbook for today’s world.”
 —Chris Lu, political commentator and former Deputy Secretary of Labor

“De Sio reveals the new paradigm of leadership and teams that are operating, now, in front of our eyes. As he states with clarity, spirit, momentum, and affirmation, the new game of everyone a changemaker only requires of us that we abandon the former, hierarchical relationships of the past and build impact and innovation that that taps into everyone’s insight and potential.”
 —- Torey Malatia, radio executive and co-creator of the long-running popular radio program This American Life

“In today’s world of rapid change, our systems and institutions must be continuously renewed and reinvented to ensure peace and sustainability. De Sio’s examination of leading and emerging innovators in business, civil society, education, media, and other fields offers both a framework of understanding and invaluable advice to thrive in this world — and change it for the better.”
 —- David Bornstein, best-selling author of How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas, New York Times columnist, and founder of Solutions Journalism

“This book confirms all I have seen during my years growing and nurturing a network of thousands of entrepreneurs: that empathy and courage, combined with proximity to urgent challenges, can fuel solutions that address persistent community needs. This book offers the models and stories we need to build an inclusive, flourishing future.”
 —- Alfa Demmellash, co-founder and CEO at Rising Tide Capital, co-founder at Future Tide Partners, and World Economic Forum Young Global Leader

“If ever there was a time in which strengthening our communities, supporting fresh leadership approaches, building trust, and taking care of each other were paramount, it’s now. Changemaker Playbook shows us that when everyday people channel our creative energies to issues we are passionate about that affect our lives and then galvanize others who share those passions, we can truly make better communities for everyone.”
 —- David Simas, former Assistant to the President in the Obama White House

“Changemaker Playbook is hopeful and bound to inspire. We all need a guiding light. And in this book Henry shows us so many guiding lights. For all of us who strive for the world as it should be, this is a roadmap for how we can make it happen.”  
 —- Johanna Maska, host of Pod is a Woman and CEO at The Global Situation Room, Inc.

“Henry De Sio understands and unearths an essential truth in his latest book: empowering everyone as a leader is what the modern workforce demands and what solving the big problems of the day requires. This is a must-read for anyone thinking about how to build flourishing teams and leaders.”
 —- Eric Waldo, executive director at Michelle Obama's ‘Reach Higher’ initiative

“Because entrepreneurship is an important driver for improving livelihoods, Changemaker Playbook is the case for why every young person must be equipped and supported as a changemaker. Recognizing the power of young changemakers is the way forward for global development.” 
 —- Per Heggenes, CEO at IKEA Foundation

“As a student leader, ours is the generation that will lead us into the new, complex, ever-changing game. Changemaker Playbook is an essential tool that every student leader needs to read in order to thrive and excel in this elaborate world we live in today.”
 —- Anna Counihan, student body president at University of Minnesota Duluth and student leader at the National Campus Leadership Council

“Henry De Sio captures beautifully how technology has democratized leadership, and he provides a compelling framework for unleashing a generation of distributed change agents who can chart a new course for our society . . . from anywhere.  His focus on empathy, agency, and innovating for the good of community will be core to rebuilding the American fabric and provides a key strategy for bridging the rural-urban divide our nation is facing.”
 —- Matt Dunne, founder of the Center on Rural Innovation and former Googler

“Changemaker Playbook is the perfect guide for people who want to better their communities and themselves in today’s fast-changing world by fostering empathy, following our creative passions, and solving problems through teamwork.”
 —- Mimi Goss, author of What Is Your One Sentence?

“Changemaker Playbook offers a clear picture and a powerful vision for commanding today's world. This is a must read for business and social-sector professionals advancing mission-led organizations.” 
 —- Christoffer Omberg, CEO and co-founder at Oslo Business Forum

“Audacious visions of BIGness, innovation, and ‘change on steroids’ have crowded my imagination since being exposed to the ideas in this book. In this fast-changing world, today's young people are trying to make sense of the new reality of careers and the economy. Henry gives original language and insights to help us understand a dramatic new world.”
 —- Amy Morrill Bijeau, higher education professional at American University

“During the more than four years we worked together—first in the presidential campaign and then in the Obama administration—I was impressed by Henry’s highly successful management philosophy which relied heavily on a collaborative approach and an ability to teach and inspire the people around him. As the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Obama for America, he was an indispensable member of the management team that built the campaign from a startup in the earliest days into the impressive organization that was the foundation for our candidate’s success. Having worked closely with Henry as he performed in both roles, I rate him as one of the best managers of a large organization I have had the privilege of observing an action.”
 —- Peter Rouse, former Counselor to President Barack Obama & Chief White House Aide

From the Publisher