Megacommunities: How Leaders of Government, Business and Non-Profits Can Tackle Today's Global Challenges Together Paperback – March 31, 2009

I've never found a book on this topic before; I was turned on to it by a colleague of the authors since I'm working in an area that needs a "megacommunity" in order to truly address the enormous issues at hand. This book is a fantastic guide for how to recognize and think about multistakeholder issues, and how to begin to address them.Too often stakeholder groups, particularly industry and NGOs, just come right out fighting. If they really and truly understood each others' points and situations they may in fact find that they can align to have similar goals and achieve their ends more readily, at lower cost, and in a mutually satisfying manner. The book provides many examples.However, the book suffers from three problems:First, many of the examples are more "microcommunity" than "megacommunity"; for instance - a single company in a single location dealing with a single issue. The example of a power company building a plant in a small town in Italy, while demonstrating the negatives of not working together vs. working together with different stakeholders gives an inkling of the concept but it is not "mega" by any stretch.Second, the authors have apparently not yet had to deal with massive international multistakeholder issues like global warming or chemical regulation. Examples in those areas are needed, but are not yet available so it's no fault of the authors, it's the fault of the stakeholders. We have yet to construct our "megacommunity" and start working to get things done.Third, the definition of stakeholders in a "megacommunity" is perhaps too narrow; only three are defined: industry, NGOs, and government. There is at least one example in the book that includes academia, a fourth (and often very important) stakeholder group. Two more, necessary for chemicals and global warming, include labor and standards development organizations.So I want to see the next volume in the series!

Globally we are at a juncture where we must tackle issues in a different fashion and this book offers the answers. I would recommend it to all who are interested in sustainable solutions intended for a global audience. It is an easy read and should be included in all educational programs that look at human development, global development and/or international policy.

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The book summarizes the experience of consultants working on huge problems requiring government, non-profit and private industry to cooperate in order to find a solutions.

If we could get all the groups in our society to engage this way, we could do nearly anything. The examples are fascinating.

The authors make a convincing case for how the prevailing paradigm in business, government, and the non-profit sector of "Winner Take All Competition" is being exposed as a dead end. The "MAXIMIZE returns for OUR constituents paradigm" just doesn't work when the job is to address large complex and interconnected challenges like - Sustainable Energy - Global Terrorism - Fair Trade Coffee.When faced with such a challenge, the "OPTIMIZE returns for ALL stakeholders" is the most effective strategy. The trick is that, executing this strategy requires a very different set of skills and mindsets. The great thing about this book is that it doesn't just prescribe a solution, it provides a blueprint for initiating, structuring, sustaining, and leading these Megacommunities.