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The Toolbox
Strategy Tools from Business, Science, and Politics1
By Jacob Harold
I. Synopsis
Too many times we have heard, “if all you have is a hammer, the whole world looks
like a nail.” Too many books offer more hammers: tipping points, fractals, and
black swans. And the world continues to look like a nail. This project offers a
toolbox, so the world may look like an opportunity. The Toolbox organizes and
describes the most powerful strategy tools from business, science, and politics—and
shows the reader where, when, and how each tool is most useful.
Business, science, and politics all offer insights which are applicable to other parts
of the human experience. But their tools of understanding and execution have
never been presented in one, simple, comparable framework. The Toolbox will offer
that synthesis.
1
See Section IX for alternate titles.
If all you have is a hammer, get a toolbox.
The first chapter will offer the reader context: cross-sector learning is by no means
new, but technological, economic, and demographic shifts have made it all the
more urgent. Any serious professional will need to understand the tools and
frameworks of multiple sectors. Just like in a toolbox, some tools are for
understanding (tape measure, magnifying glass, level) and others are for doing
(screwdriver, wrench, chisel). The Toolbox is both guidebook and textbook,
describing in detail nine tools—from storytelling to mathematical modeling to
markets. Those descriptions take up the middle nine of the book’s eleven chapters.
The final chapter will be a capstone, offering case studies on ventures that have
tied multiple tools together: the civil rights movement, Google, and the 2008
Obama-Biden campaign. The simple hope is this: upon reading The Toolbox, no
reader will find that the world still looks like a nail.
they provide the reader one new tool to use to explain the world—without claiming
universality.2
A well-written One Idea Book offers the reader great depth and texture through
examples and exposition. But the reader can usually grasp the One Idea after the
first chapter, if not the back cover. They are deep without being wide. The Toolbox
is an attempt to synthesize these many One Ideas, but is a One Idea Book, as well.
The Toolbox is built upon the idea that different situations require different tools.
Such tools (One Ideas) can be presented in a coherent, comparable format—and are
far more usable when presented as an organized group.
Many recent notable One Idea Books have dealt with economics, such as
Freakonomics, Nudge, and The Black Swan. But there is a long history of such
books, and they also come from politics (Thomas Friedman’s The World is Flat, Saul
Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals, Milton Friedman’s Capitalism) and science (James
Gleick’s Chaos, Fritzof Capra’s The Tao of Physics, and E.O. Wilson’s Consilience.)
In general, I believe in micro-targeting an audience, but by its very nature this book
aims for a broad, educated readership. The target reader for The Toolbox is a
professional trying to solve a complex problem in a complex context. Most
obviously, businesspeople—whether small business owners, aspirational executives,
or established leaders—need smart strategy to succeed in the marketplace. The
marketing plan would, thus, begin with the standard channels of business
publishing. But it would not end there. Jim Collins found that the largest single
group of his readers were nonprofit executives (who total ~5 million in the US
alone)—and they may find The Toolbox particularly relevant given the cross-sector
nature of nonprofit work. Government officials (elected and unelected), labor union
leaders, teachers and attorneys are all struggling to understand how to succeed in
an increasingly complicated world. None of these professionals have enough time
to read all of the One Idea books. Each group needs an intellectually coherent
synthesis such as The Toolbox and would deserve a targeted marketing effort.
2
One need only think of Marx, Freud, and Darwin to be reminded that One Idea Books are
not a new phenomenon—though the market for those books has certainly evolved.
3
If all you have is a hammer, get a toolbox.
V. Personal note
Personal biography can be a distraction in nonfiction. My life, though, so closely
parallels the intellectual arc of this book that I believe it is worth briefly noting here.
My life has ended up being a search for tools.
I graduated summa cum laude but found myself frustrated by abstraction without
action. So I trained as a grassroots organizer with Green Corps and entered the
world of radical political action to fight global warming. I dodged tear gas, chained
myself to a fence for Greenpeace and hounded Gore, Bush, and McCain.
3
I hesitate to name-drop and so in a failed attempt at modesty I will put this in a footnote: I
have close relationships with influential consultants, Silicon Valley venture capitalists,
cutting-edge social entrepreneurs, well-respected scientists and physicians. I am friends
with prominent people in the nonprofit sector (from the CEOs of Greenpeace and
MoveOn.Org to senior executives at most of the country’s largest foundations). In addition,
several friends work in publishing and journalism and have access to key media outlets (e.g.,
a very close friend has written a dozen book reviews for the Los Angeles Times).
4
If all you have is a hammer, get a toolbox.
I am now 32 and this lucky string of experiences has exposed me to a broad set of
tools for creating change. This book draws directly on those experiences—and in
particular on a set of mentors, teachers, colleagues, and friends who have shared
deep insight on their chosen tools. I would hope to integrate some personal
anecdotes from this journey in order to ease the path of the reader—and am sure
that my experience will help me offer a cogent and grounded framework.
VI. Structure
I acknowledge that I am proposing an ambitious project. The Toolbox is an attempt
at immense intellectual synthesis—while also striving to be practical. For it to be
intelligible to the reader, it must be structured with great care.
4
For a case study on my work with Rainforest Action Network see:
http://harvardbusinessonline.hbsp.harvard.edu/b02/en/common/item_detail.jhtml?
id=P44&_requestid=55737
5
In light of the economic crisis: “…run our economy and institutions into the ground”.
6
For more detail on this project see:
http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/pmp/academics/pmi/pmi04-05.html
7
The “Complex Systems Summer School” program associated with the Santa Fe Institute.
8
For a case study on this work see: https://gsbapps.stanford.edu/cases/detail1.asp?
Document_ID=3061. Also see my work with McKinsey on this project, available at
www.givingmarketplaces.org.
5
If all you have is a hammer, get a toolbox.
As noted above, the book will be 11 chapters. The first is an introduction to the
driving ideas of and context for the book. The final chapter is a set of case studies
and a discussion of the implications of tool-driven politics. The middle nine chapters
are the tools themselves, one for each cell in a 3x3 matrix.
The toolbox is built around a 3x3 matrix, with meaning embedded in both the
columns and rows. The columns represent sectors of society—business, science,
politics. The rows are levels of analysis—individual, organization, society. Each of
the nine chapters will follow a consistent structure:
• Description of the tool
• Illustrative example
• Detailed explanation of key concepts and specific frameworks
• Uses and limitations of the tool
Further, each chapter will have a set of parallel sidebars and illustrations:
• An emblematic visual illustration of the concept
• Exemplary quote for chapter frontispiece
• Founding books and thinkers (both academic and popular)
• A critical related concept
The reader’s journey through the book will be aided by including a consistent color
scheme: the columns color-coded and the rows delineated by shading. The
framework is flexible and can be cross-referenced in multiple ways. For example,
the graphic below displays this basic framework as it relates to a set of “one idea
books”.
I would like to keep the book to around 300 pages. The laws of arithmetic will thus
keep discussion of each tool focused and relatively shallow. But that will force a
discipline which is aligned with the broad spirit of the book. If the reader wishes to
explore a given tool more, sidebars will direct them to further reading and
additional content that I will create for the book site. .
To further aid the reader’s uptake, each chapter should have a paired illustration
and emblem. For example, a classic image for the concept of storytelling is people
gathered around a fire listening to a storyteller. Thus, the storytelling chapter could
begin with an illustration of people circling a fire, enraptured by a storyteller, and
each page could be marked by a small fire logo.
The writing style of the book will be similar to this proposal: mostly direct and clear,
with sprinkled use of metaphor, story, image, and humor to ease the path of the
reader. I like to think that I am an intellectual and write like one, but will not
hesitate to include a pop culture reference if I think it effectively makes the point. I
have also spent enough time in outcome-focused organizations to be forced to learn
write clearly, but hope that I have read enough poetry to know how to add richness
and emotion when appropriate. As is probably clear in this document, I have a clear
sense of what I would like to do with this book.
All that said, I would very much benefit from a good agent and editor to help me
craft something that will serve the needs of the market and my readers. I have
already gotten feedback from three dozen of the smartest people I know (and who
represent diverse backgrounds) and have gathered further feedback from through
my website www.socialcontract2.com.
VIII. Inspiration
This idea stands upon the shoulders of many giants, including:
7
If all you have is a hammer, get a toolbox.
8
If all you have is a hammer, get a toolbox.
X. Outline9
INTRODUCTION
9
If all you have is a hammer, get a toolbox.
5. Quote: “The marketplace obliges men, whether they will or not, in pursuing
their own selfish interests, to connect the general good with their own
individual success.” — Edmund Burke
6. Key academic authors: Adam Smith, Milton Friedman, John Kenneth Galbraith,
Karl Marx
7. Key popular authors: Thomas Friedman, Ronald Reagan
8. Flip side: Markets have no heart, nor are they goal-oriented
8. Flip side: Difficulty of defining variables, collecting data, and tracking risk
INTEGRATION
14