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Review: Small Giants by Bo Burlingham. Written by Wouter Kersten.

Once in a while I come across a book that immediately catches my attention. Such was the case when I found Small Giants by Bo Burlingham. It questions the often unquestioned vision, that to have impact (‘be great’), you need to be ‘big’.

What he describes in many ways corresponds with how social entrepreneurs think. The core message in the book is that organisations have a choice how fast they should grow. Growth is too often seen as a given, while hardly any thoughts are given to why, and whether just focus on growth is the best way to achieve one's goals, and even more importantly, one's vision.

What distinguishes 'small giants' (i.e., companies that focus on being great instead of being big) includes being truly close to your customers, but not before you are truly close to your own employees. Focus on values. Realise that getting outside capital in may enable growth, but at the expense of control. And if a vision is important, then this is not a trade off that is to be taken lightly.

Although the book does not talk specifically about social entrepreneurs, the entrepreneurs that feature in the book do seem to be driven by some same motivations. One very important question that needs to be asked is: can I only achieve sizable impact by directly targeting large amounts of people (usually requiring a large organisation and/or leading to superficial contact), or can I better achieve this by demonstrating quality in what I do, resulting in a deep and sustainable direct effect, inspiring others to act themselves and thus in the end achieve a high overall impact.

What makes the book extra interesting is it’s applicability to organizations like Enviu. (How) to grow and why to grow are continuous dilemmas. Do we want to engage in deep relationships or many relationships, or can we do both? And in our case not just towards ‘clients’ and employees but definitely as well towards volunteers. More projects provide more opportunities, but also increase the risk of depersonalizing the contact. And, as ample evaluations have shown, the personal contact may be one of the most important distinguishing factors in making the ‘Enviu experience’ great. 

Browse the Enviu Library!

This book and many more are available for you to loan from the Enviu library. You are welcome to drop by the office and browse through the library. We hope that a catalogue of the entire library contents will be available online shortly.

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If you would like to request a specific book review or indeed write a review yourself we would be delighted to hear from you! Please send an email with suggestions and/or requests to: WouterKersten@enviu.org