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

Mitchell Weiss

Jan 2021 · Highbridge Audio · Narrated by Tom Perkins

About this audiobook

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 the author

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. Prior to joining HBS, he was chief of staff and a partner to Boston's mayor Thomas Menino.

An award-winning audio engineer for over forty years, Tom Perkins has expanded his skills to narrating and has more than sixty titles to his credit. He learned by working with the world's best voice talent during his career, and he continues to engineer a variety of projects.