"Groundbreaking" --Next Big Idea Club
"This book helps us live happier, successful, and more fulfilling
lives." --Jenn Lim, CEO and cofounder of Delivering Happiness, and
bestselling author of Beyond Happiness
We constantly encounter complex problems at home, in our places of
work, and in society at large. Even if we had all the time and money in
the world, sometimes no good solution can be found. So, what should we
do, especially when we can't wait? The answer: a workaround.
For ages, global corporations have been lecturing small organizations
and not-for-profits on how to get things done. As it turns out, it
should have been the other way around. In this groundbreaking book,
award-winning researcher Paulo Savaget shows how the most valuable
lessons about problem-solving can be learned from the scrappiest groups.
Savaget draws most of his examples from small organizations dedicated to
social action that have made an art form out of subverting the status
quo and have proved themselves adept at achieving massive wins with
minimal resources. Through his research, Savaget identified the four
workarounds that these groups commonly employ: the piggyback, the
loophole, the roundabout, and the next best. With vivid and fascinating
examples from his life and travels, he demonstrates how each one works
and how to know which one to use when.
The Four Workarounds shows how seemingly intractable problems--from
public urination to the challenges of delivering lifesaving medicine to
remote communities--were addressed using unconventional tactics. Some of
the world's biggest and most admired companies are already using
Savaget's research to transform the ways they do business. And these
same lessons can also revolutionize the ways we approach the challenges
we all encounter every day of our lives.
