Changing the World Without Losing Your Mind: Leadership Lessons from Three Decades of Social Entrepreneurship

Some people are dreamers. They choose careers shaped by dreams of making the world a better place. When your dreams are that powerful, it’s easy to neglect yourself. Both lives and dreams can suffer the consequences.

If you’re one of the dreamers, this is the book for you. Changing the World Without Losing Your Mind is a down-to-earth guide to mission-driven leadership. Drawing on his decades as an acclaimed nonprofit leader, Alex Counts offers practical advice on such vital activities as fundraising, team-building, communications, and management. He shows you how to run an organization—and your own life—both effectively and sustainably, giving joyfully to those around you while also caring generously for yourself.

Candid, funny, insightful, and wise, it’s a book you’ll refer to throughout your career . . . wherever your dreams may lead you.

“A life of service to other and to society can be deeply fulfilling. Anyone who seeks to live a life informed by this insight will benefit from this exceptional, and highly readable, book.”--From the Foreword by Muhammad Yunus, co-recipient of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Alex Counts founded Grameen Foundation and became its president and CEO in 1997. A Cornell University graduate, Counts’s commitment to poverty eradication deepened as a Fulbright scholar in Bangladesh, where he trained under Professor Muhammad Yunus, the founder and managing director of Grameen Bank, and co-recipient of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize. Since its modest beginnings, Grameen Foundation has grown to become a leading international humanitarian organization.

Counts is the author of Small Loans, Big Dreams: How Nobel Prize Winner Muhammad Yunus and Microfinance Are Changing the World. Today he is an independent consultant to nonprofit organizations and a professor at the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland College Park.

MORE ADVANCE PRAISE:

“Do you have an idea that would help others that you don’t know how to implement? Are you worn out from working in the nonprofit world without achieving results? This book will give you the confidence and skills you need to make a real difference. Alex Counts has been there and done that. Now he shares his vast experience on how to save yourself while you save others.”--Mike Enzi, U.S. Senator (R-WY)

“Alex brings us insights on social impact with thoughtful reflection and generous advice. With verve and wit, he distills key leadership lessons from his decades of service building one of the great pioneering organizations in the financial inclusion movement.”--Michael Schlein, CEO, Accion

“Remarkably candid, self-reflective, generous, and practical, this book is part memoir, part self-help. Alex is an astute observer whose amazing memory helps him recount his own healing journey in vivid detail, offering stories, lessons, and sage advice that will benefit many readers. You’ll love this book, and you'll laugh out loud as you read it!”--Susan Davis, Co-Author, Social Entrepreneurship: What Everyone Needs to Know, Past Chair, Grameen Foundation, and Co-founder, BRAC USA

“Nonprofit leaders and managers need great mentors. Alex Counts’s new book lets you experience conversations with a brilliant mentor whose candid sharing of his mistakes and accomplishments will help you avoid pitfalls and multiply your success.”--Sam Daley-Harris, Founder, RESULTS, Microcredit Summit, and Civic Courage

"Effective social entrepreneurship is both an art and a science. In this book, Alex Counts generously shares what he learned during more than 25 years addressing pressing issues such as poverty. It will be an invaluable resource to the next generation of entrepreneurs, both social and traditional, especially as it addresses not only how to make an impact but also how to ensure that it does not come at great personal cost."--M. R. Rangaswami, Founder, Indiaspora