We the Possibility, Mitchell Weiss
We the Possibility, Mitchell Weiss
List: $19.99 | Sale: $13.99
Club: $9.99

We the Possibility
Harnessing Public Entrepreneurship to Solve Our Most Urgent Problems

Author: Mitchell Weiss

Narrator: Tom Perkins

Unabridged: 7 hr 6 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Kalorama

Published: 01/19/2021

Includes: Bonus Material Bonus Material Included


Synopsis

During his years as a public official, Mitchell Weiss was told that government can't do new things or solve tough challenges—it's too big and slow and bureaucratic. Sadly, this is what so many of us have come to believe. But in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombings, he and his city hall colleagues raced to support survivors in new, innovative ways. This kind of entrepreneurial spirit and savvy in government is growing, transforming the public sector's response to big problems at all levels.

In this inspiring and instructive book, Weiss argues that we must shift from a mindset of "Probability Government"—overly focused on performance management and on mimicking "best" practices—to "Possibility Government." This means a leap to public leadership and management that embraces more imagination and riskier projects.

Weiss shares the basic tenets of this new way of governing in the book's three sections: Government that can imagine, Government that can try new things, and Government that can scale.

At a crucial moment in the evolution of government's role in our society, We the Possibility provides both inspiration and a positive model to help shape progress for generations to come.

About Mitchell Weiss

Mitchell Weiss is a professor of management practice in the Entrepreneurial Management Unit and the Richard L. Menschel Faculty Fellow at Harvard Business School. He created and teaches the school's course on public entrepreneurship. He also teaches The Entrepreneurial Manager course in the first year of the MBA Program. Prior to joining HBS in 2014, Mitch was chief of staff and a partner to Boston's mayor Thomas Menino. During this time, he cofounded the Mayor's Office of New Urban Mechanics.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Cam on February 04, 2025

One of the best books I’ve read. Recommended to me. Very spot on with my experience in the public sector thus far, and career interests/aspirations. A book that I will definitely read multiple times. Quick read. HBS professor who teaches Public Entrepreneurship. “We get the government we invent.” “Pos......more

Goodreads review by Henry on February 03, 2021

One of my chief complaints with nonfiction books is that they could be a lot shorter: they’re often one novel idea with many examples. This is not so with Mitch Weiss's We the Possibility, which explores the question of whether government can solve big problems anymore. He does so by presenting a co......more

Goodreads review by J. Scott on November 05, 2024

If you serve the public, then this book provides some good examples of how to be innovative, and solution-oriented. At times this comes off as “preachy.” The message is well received though.......more