Mistrust in big business and major politicians, coupled with recent scandals in international development, grew from a blatant lack of accountability between decision-makers and recipients. Remedies seem to lie within the UN Sustainable Development Goals, the rise of social entrepreneurship, and the demand for responsible practices, all key drivers for social, rather than merely financial, returns on investments. Yet accounting for such returns remains scattershot and unevenly implemented. With contributions from world-leading scholars and practitioners, Generation Impact brings together lessons from both developed and developing economies, shares current best practice and suggests future trends in impact accounting. The book analyses social and environmental capital protocols, the international convergence in impact investing, organisational management and capacity-building and best practice in assurance and training, and offers reflections on policy directions. Through its case-studies it provides insights into a growing global community of practitioners, academics, impact investors, policy-makers and organisations of all kinds working to cement the central importance of accounting for social value. For its unique blend of scholarly research and boots-on-the-ground insights, Generation Impact is a must-read for development scholars and students interested in social and environmental accounting, practitioners, senior managers, and executives concerned with organisational practice and its real impact on wider social and economic development.

The best organizations, and even the best departments within organizations, have a roadmap: a clear vision of where they would like to be and the means by which they will get there. This roadmap drives the everyday activity of the company as well as any change it makes both internally and externally. And it is what drives projects. In fact, it is arguable that success in business is almost wholly reliant on an ability to implement change effectively - whether it is a computer system that gives you the edge on your competitor, bringing a new product to market, adopting new ways of working, or completely redefining the approach your company takes. Success and survival in business relies on change and the way that business implements change is through projects. Therefore, if you work in the world of business, sooner or later the chances are that you will be involved in a project, as a stakeholder, advisor, sponsor or possibly running it - as the project manager. In The Everyday Project Manager, author and project management expert Jeremy Nicholls shares the key attributes and skills of successful project management and describes the practical skills that will enhance project delivery regardless of your level of experience. The skills and concepts detailed in this book can be easily understood and implemented. They are "everyday" (that is, commonplace) skills, but they are skills and the concepts that the best project managers use every day. Each chapter details the concepts, practices, and tools that readers will use to build their proficiency in every phase of delivering a project efficiently and effectively.

The role of big finance and technology in social change is rapidly evolving. This book examines why large financial players are entering the social sector through social finance. Drawing on empirical research, the authors analyse the opportunities this new interest and commitment presents as well as the potential harm that can be done to vulnerable people when beneficiaries are not treated as partners and the social needs of people are not placed at the centre of the investment model. This book introduces a 'Deliberate Leadership' framework to help big finance tackle problems with no easy solutions. The book also analyses how current technologies (including blockchain) are being used and the benefits and drawbacks of different features of these technologies from the standpoint of the beneficiary and investor. The authors derive a series of insights into the model of technology for social finance and impact investing. Written as a practical book for students alongside a field book based on an action learning methodology, this volume will be useful to those in social finance and impact investing.

The best organizations, and even the best departments within organizations, have a roadmap: a clear vision of where they would like to be and the means by which they will get there. This roadmap drives the everyday activity of the company as well as any change it makes both internally and externally. And it is what drives projects. In fact, it is arguable that success in business is almost wholly reliant on an ability to implement change effectively - whether it is a computer system that gives you the edge on your competitor, bringing a new product to market, adopting new ways of working, or completely redefining the approach your company takes. Success and survival in business relies on change and the way that business implements change is through projects. Therefore, if you work in the world of business, sooner or later the chances are that you will be involved in a project, as a stakeholder, advisor, sponsor or possibly running it - as the project manager. In The Everyday Project Manager, author and project management expert Jeremy Nicholls shares the key attributes and skills of successful project management and describes the practical skills that will enhance project delivery regardless of your level of experience. The skills and concepts detailed in this book can be easily understood and implemented. They are "everyday" (that is, commonplace) skills, but they are skills and the concepts that the best project managers use every day. Each chapter details the concepts, practices, and tools that readers will use to build their proficiency in every phase of delivering a project efficiently and effectively.

The role of big finance and technology in social change is rapidly evolving. This book examines why large financial players are entering the social sector through social finance. Drawing on empirical research, the authors analyse the opportunities this new interest and commitment presents as well as the potential harm that can be done to vulnerable people when beneficiaries are not treated as partners and the social needs of people are not placed at the centre of the investment model. This book introduces a 'Deliberate Leadership' framework to help big finance tackle problems with no easy solutions. The book also analyses how current technologies (including blockchain) are being used and the benefits and drawbacks of different features of these technologies from the standpoint of the beneficiary and investor. The authors derive a series of insights into the model of technology for social finance and impact investing. Written as a practical book for students alongside a field book based on an action learning methodology, this volume will be useful to those in social finance and impact investing.

"The Unimportant Man" - The story of a nondescript North American pizza delivery man and his struggle to achieve significance after having been attacked by a perverted, gun-wielding, Brigitte Bardot look-alike, reality television star. Written in an epigrammatic and associative style (though never rambling), "The Unimportant Man" draws from myriad literary, cultural and historical sources (E.M. Cioran, Giorgio Agamben, Jean-Luc Godard, Roland Barthes, Papal Encyclicals and more); intertwining themes in a violently entertaining essay-esque narrative that expresses the anguish and sense of futility suffered by unimportant men (men like the author). Author and translator, Jason Weiss (Writing at Risk: Interviews in Paris with Uncommon Writers (University of Iowa Press) & The Lights of Home: A Century of Latin American Writers in Paris (Routledge)) has compared "the ease with which Nichols] manipulates and maneuvers narrative elements, turning them around to consider them in a dispassionate mode" to the art of Milan Kundera: An author with whom Mr. Weiss collaborated in Writing at Risk. He has further praised Nichols' work for its adroit "weaving back and forth between the story and the Author's machinations"; a strength he later likened to the Argentine master, Macedonio Fernandez: The mentor of Borges. English poet, author and agitator, Paul Kingsnorth (One No, Many Yeses (Simon and Schuster) & Real England (Portobello Books)) has described Nichols' writing as "funny, intelligent and biting." Excerpt from "The Unimportant Man" - When he was a boy, grown-ups told the pizza delivery man, "Everyone has a talent: Something that they do better than others." Because the young pizza delivery man had no recognizable talent; because that shortcoming troubled him, the young pizza delivery man found the grown-ups' words very reassuring. They helped him sleep. At night, he would drift off fantasizing about his dormant gift. Because he enjoyed music, he often wished he would wake the next morning with a better ear: "Please, God" he would pray, "perfect pitch?" As the years passed, the still talentless pizza delivery man became restless. "When will I find my talent?" he would ask. Because he was still a boy, grown-ups continued to ply his heart with optimism: "Give yourself time," they would say. "However modest, you will find something uniquely yours, something for which you will feel pride." Because he was still young, the grown-ups' words comforted him. Unfortunately, the pizza delivery man could not stay young forever. As he aged, the grown-ups' reassuring words grew fewer and farther between, until one day they stopped. The adults who once insisted that everything was going to be alright (that his talent would reveal itself in time) now demanded that the talentless pizza delivery man get with the program; work with what he had; and face the music that he could not make. As a grown-up, nighttime became something different for the pizza delivery man. Because he will never wake with anything like a well-tuned ear, nighttime is no longer a time for fantasy. It is now just that time (after fitful tossing and turning) when the pizza delivery man resigns himself to the fact that he has nothing of which to be proud. Raised in a society that celebrates musicians, performers, athletes, models, published writers, intellects, entrepreneurs, charismatic statesmen, and other talented people; having long believed that talent is the standard against which a man's importance is measured, nighttime is now just that time when the pizza delivery man sees most clearly that he is an unimportant man.

"On the Beauty of Christ and Christian Reason" is a concise, reasoned defense of the Christian faith. It demonstrates that faith in Christ can be arrived at through rigorous analysis with appreciation for beauty. It is accessible, compelling, and brief. Written for a non-academic readership without a background in theology, aesthetics, or philosophy, "On the Beauty of Christ and Christian Reason" fits snugly in the pocket or purse of anyone who wishes to understand Christianity rationally. Approbation: "A sincere and devout reading of the Christian revelation, and I think that the 'beautiful idea' approach might very well be as far as one can get, by explaining the power of Christianity to those who have not felt it." Dr. Roger Scruton - Former lecturer and professor of aesthetics at Birkbeck College, London; former professor of philosophy and university professor, Boston University; and author of over 30 books, including Art and Imagination (1974), The Aesthetics of Music (1997), and A Political Philosophy: Arguments for Conservatism (2006).