Undercurrents:
Channeling Outrage to Spark Practical Activism
By Steve Davis
Shaping Outrage into Action Through Five Leading Forces Powering Practical Activism
A global pandemic has laid bare fundamental weaknesses in our country's economy and healthcare system. Other nations, too, are grappling with their own version of these and other societal problems. And on the ground, citizens around the world are increasingly outraged. Despite the understandable despair, there are reasons for optimism about the possibilities for widespread systemic change. Among them: the powerful Black Lives Matter movement; new urgency around addressing climate change; and broader embrace of equal rights for the LGBTQ+ community.
This perspective-finding energy for optimism amidst outrage-anchors a new book by business leader, global health advocate, and social innovator Steve Davis. His new book, Undercurrents: Channeling Outrage to Spark Practical Activism (Wiley; October 2020; ISBN 978-1119669234), outlines the ways social activists have created change that was once impossible to conceive, as it identifies five global undercurrents powering this work into the future.
From an upbringing in a Montana farm community to leading an early internet company, and from working with the poorest neighborhoods in urban India to speaking on the stages of Davos and TED, Davis presents his unique world view. It is one in which everyone from Wall Street investors to kids in refugee camps has a role in reshaping our world. In Undercurrents, Davis discusses his pragmatic approach: "By partnering with colleagues around the globe, whatever their political persuasion, I've been able to help improve the lives of millions of people through a roll-up-your-sleeves-and-get-things-done form of social activism. I call it practical activism."
In Undercurrents, Davis uses real-life examples to demonstrate how global citizens can harness their outrage to capitalize on global trends and instigate change. Key to this theory of action are five undercurrents-megatrends with outsized importance in shaping our world:
- Global economies are moving away from the old model of a pyramid with mainly low-income people and countries at the bottom and a few wealthy ones at the top, toward a fat diamond with vastly more people joining the middle class and living better, realizing powerful new possibilities to link entrepreneurialism with improved well-being.
- Communities are increasingly becoming customers with agency and voice, rather than passive recipients of aid and social change, increasingly playing more of a role in shaping their own futures with community- and human-centered activism.
- Equity concerns-whether based around gender, ethnicity, or sexuality-are radically reshaping the field of social activism.
- Data and digital tools will continue to bring valuable new capabilities to our world, revolutionizing everything from health care to education-even as they present daunting new challenges for activists to navigate.
- Adapting and scaling innovations for widespread impact, often ignored as one of the less glamorous aspects of social change, is becoming more important and, surprisingly, more sexy.
In a time of social isolation and political noise, Undercurrents offers answers to the looming question of how to ignite genuine change within a flawed system. In Davis's telling, practical activism is for all of us who want to make the world a better place-from neighbors down the street to corporate executives in glass towers.
"Undercurrents is about the powerful forces that will drive practical activism through the
coming decades," he says. "It is a hopeful assessment of the challenges and opportunities that confront us, as well as an inspiring story about the ability of social activists to do even more toward improving our planet and the lives of its people."
About the Author:
Steve Davis is a lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and is a senior strategic advisor and interim director, China Country Office, for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. He serves as co-chair of the World Health Organization's Digital Health Technical Advisory Group and is a member of numerous boards and advisory committees. He is the former president & CEO of PATH, a leading global health innovation organization; former Director of Social Innovation at McKinsey & Company; and former CEO of Corbis. With degrees from Princeton University, University of Washington, and Columbia Law School, Davis speaks and writes regularly about the intersection of innovation, technology, and social impact.He lives with his family in Seattle, Washington. To learn more about Steve Davis, please visit https://www.undercurrentsbook.com and connect on Twitter, LinkedIn & Facebook
About the Book: Undercurrents: Channeling Outrage to Spark Practical Activism by Steve Davis (October 2020, ISBN 978-1119669234, 208 pages, $30)
