Overview

A provocative vision for building a society that looks beyond money and toward maximizing the values that make life worth living, from the co-founder of Kickstarter Break free from a wealth-obsessed world Western society is trapped by three assumptions- 1) the point of life is to maximize your self-interest and wealth, 2) we're individuals trapped in an adversarial world, and 3) that this path is inevitable. These ideas separate us, keep us powerless, and limit our imagination for the future. We see them as the truth, but they are just a point of view that previous generations accepted as inevitable. It's time we replace them with something new. In this bold, powerful book, Yancey Strickler - co-founder of Kickstarter - lays out an inspiring vision for a new world we have the power to create and how we can change course. While the pursuit of wealth has produced innovation and prosperity, it's also produced dire consequences- environmental collapse, corruption, exploitation, and unhappiness around the world. We don't have to get rid of money entirely, though- we can co-opt the tools we have used toward better measurement of what matters, technology, and specificity of goals--and refocus them to build a more generous, fair, and future-prepared society. By re-calibrating our definition of value, a world of scarcity can blossom into a world of abundance. Hopeful but firmly grounded, full of concrete examples and bursting with creativity, This Could Be Our Future brilliantly dissects the world we live in and shows us a road map to the world we are capable of making.

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9780753552834

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Reviews

Want to actually change the world for the better? Start here * Sophia Amoruso, bestselling author of #GIRLBOSS * This book is a gift to humanity ... If you've got future-fatigue, this book might be the perfect bedtime story to help you sleep at night * Amanda Palmer, musician and bestselling author of THE ART OF ASKING * A seminal work, it puts a long overdue stake through the heart of profit maximization and all the harm this toxic idea has caused. Beautifully written, thoughtfully researched, a must read for nyone who cares about where we're headed * Seth Godin * In this wise, and sometimes bracing, manifesto, he reveals how hidden assumptions about what matters have coarsened our culture and corroded our values. Then shows how to create organizations and institutions built less on maximizing financial gain and more on family, faith, and sustainability. This book is the conversation starter our world needs * Daniel H. Pink, New York Times bestselling author of WHEN, DRIVE, and A WHOLE NEW MIND * Audacious and elevating: a thought-provoking read for anyone who knows there's more to life than accumulating wealth * Adam Grant, New York Times bestselling author of GIVE AND TAKE, ORIGINALS, and OPTION B * A fresh vision of a people before profit model that benefits all stakeholders. Preach on Yancey!! * Simon Sinek, Optimist and New York Times bestselling author of START WITH WHY and LEADERS EAT LAST * A beautiful, simple, important book. If we all follow its advice, the world will be a far better place for our children and grandchildren * Tim O'Reilly, founder and CEO * This bold, moving book explains why forging a more humane, equitable society depends on a fundamental shift not just in values, but in the very way we define what value is. This is urgent, actionable reading for how to start seeing the bigger picture and making real change * Eric Ries, bestselling author of THE LEAN STARTUP * Throughout history, societies have fallen for the fallacy that the world around them is how things are destined to be forever-only in hindsight do we see how wrong and short-sighted they were. THIS COULD BE OUR FUTURE is a brilliant exercise in reasoning from first principles, challenging our assumptions about how the world must be * Tim Urban, writer of WAIT BUT WHY *

We live in a cynical age - an age in which, to paraphrase Oscar Wilde, we know the price of everything and the value of nothing. Thank goodness, then, for Yancey Strickler. In this wise, and sometimes bracing, manifesto, he reveals how hidden assumptions about what matters have coarsened our culture and corroded our values. Then shows how to create organizations and institutions built less on maximizing financial gain and more on family, faith, and sustainability. This book is the conversation starter our world needs * Daniel H. Pink, New York Times bestselling author of WHEN, DRIVE, and A WHOLE NEW MIND * After cofounding Kickstarter, Yancey Strickler is convinced that our value system is broken. In this lucid book, he lays out a vision for how to fix it that's both audacious and elevating. It's a thought-provoking read for anyone who knows there's more to life than accumulating wealth * Adam Grant, New York Times bestselling author of GIVE AND TAKE, ORIGINALS, and OPTION B * Starting in the 1970s, new ideas were proposed about how business should run -- ideas that prioritized short-term over long term, profit before people, selfish decisions over selfless ones. Those ideas blossomed in the 1980s and 90s and today they consume too many of the standard business practices. Yancey Strickler is one of the voices that is helping to reverse those ideas in favor of a people before profit model that benefits ALL stakeholders. Preach on Yancey!! * Simon Sinek, Optimist and New York Times bestselling author of START WITH WHY and LEADERS EAT LAST *

Want to actually change the world for the better? Start here This book is a gift to humanity ... If you've got future-fatigue, this book might be the perfect bedtime story to help you sleep at night A seminal work, it puts a long overdue stake through the heart of profit maximization and all the harm this toxic idea has caused. Beautifully written, thoughtfully researched, a must read for nyone who cares about where we're headed In this wise, and sometimes bracing, manifesto, he reveals how hidden assumptions about what matters have coarsened our culture and corroded our values. Then shows how to create organizations and institutions built less on maximizing financial gain and more on family, faith, and sustainability. This book is the conversation starter our world needs * Daniel H. Pink, New York Times bestselling author of WHEN, DRIVE, and A WHOLE NEW MIND * Audacious and elevating: a thought-provoking read for anyone who knows there's more to life than accumulating wealth * Adam Grant, New York Times bestselling author of GIVE AND TAKE, ORIGINALS, and OPTION B *

Reading This Could Be Our Future should be a requirement for all who endeavour to build and lead humane organizations * Jerry Colonna, author of REBOOT: Leadership and the Art of Growing Up * Throughout history, societies have fallen for the fallacy that the world around them is how things are destined to be forever-only in hindsight do we see how wrong and short-sighted they were. This Could Be Our Future is a brilliant exercise in reasoning from first principles, challenging our assumptions about how the world must be * Tim Urban, writer of WAIT BUT WHY * This bold, moving book explains why forging a more humane, equitable society depends on a fundamental shift not just in values, but in the very way we define what value is. This is urgent, actionable reading for how to start seeing the bigger picture and making real change * Eric Ries, bestselling author of THE LEAN STARTUP * A beautiful, simple, important book. If we all follow its advice, the world will be a far better place for our children and grandchildren * Tim O'Reilly, founder and CEO * A fresh vision of a people before profit model that benefits all stakeholders. Preach on Yancey!! * Simon Sinek, Optimist and New York Times bestselling author of START WITH WHY and LEADERS EAT LAST * Audacious and elevating: a thought-provoking read for anyone who knows there's more to life than accumulating wealth * Adam Grant, New York Times bestselling author of GIVE AND TAKE, ORIGINALS, and OPTION B * In this wise, and sometimes bracing, manifesto, he reveals how hidden assumptions about what matters have coarsened our culture and corroded our values. Then shows how to create organizations and institutions built less on maximizing financial gain and more on family, faith, and sustainability. This book is the conversation starter our world needs * Daniel H. Pink, New York Times bestselling author of WHEN, DRIVE, and A WHOLE NEW MIND * A seminal work, it puts a long overdue stake through the heart of profit maximization and all the harm this toxic idea has caused. Beautifully written, thoughtfully researched, a must read for nyone who cares about where we're headed * Seth Godin * This book is a gift to humanity ... If you've got future-fatigue, this book might be the perfect bedtime story to help you sleep at night * Amanda Palmer, musician and bestselling author of THE ART OF ASKING * Want to actually change the world for the better? Start here * Sophia Amoruso, bestselling author of #GIRLBOSS *

Author Information

Yancey Strickler is a writer, speaker and co-founder of Kickstarter. He has appeared widely across the media around the world and been profiled in Wired, the Financial Times, The New York Times, New York Magazine, Forbes, and Vox. He was one of Fortune's 40 Under 40, on Vanity Fair's New Establishment List, and World Economic Forum Young Global Leader. The Spectator called him ""one of the least obnoxious tech evangelists ever.""

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