Despite enormous investments of time and money, are we making a dent on the social and environmental challenges of our time? What if we could exponentially increase our impact? Around the world, a new generation is looking beyond greater profits, for meaningful purpose. But, unlike business, few social interventions have achieved significant impact at scale. Inspired by the modern innovation practices, popularized by bestseller The Lean Startup, that have fueled technology breakthroughs touching every aspect of our lives, Lean Impact turns our attention to a new goal - radically greater social good. Social change is far more complicated than building a new app. It requires more listening, more care, and more stakeholders. To make a lasting difference, solutions must be embraced by beneficiaries, address root causes, and include an engine that can accelerate growth to reach the scale of the need. Lean Impact offers bold ideas to reach audacious goals through customer insight, rapid experimentation and iteration, and a relentless pursuit of impact. Ann Mei Chang brings a unique perspective from across sectors, from her years as a tech executive in Silicon Valley to her most recent experience as the Chief Innovation Officer at USAID. She vividly illustrates the book with real stories from interviews with over 200 organizations across the US and around the world. Whether you are a nonprofit, social enterprise, triple bottom line company, foundation, government agency, philanthropist, impact investor, or simply donate your time and money, Lean Impact is an essential guide to maximizing social impact and scale.

After a foreword by Klaus von Klitzing, the first chapters of this book discuss the prehistory and the theoretical basis as well as the implications of the discovery of the Quantum Hall effect on superconductivity, superfluidity, and metrology, including experimentation. The second half of this volume is concerned with the theory of and experiments on the many body problem posed by fractional effect. Specific unsolved problems are mentioned throughout the book and a summary is made in the final chapter. The quantum Hall effect was discovered on about the hundredth anniversary of Hall's original work, and the finding was announced in 1980 by von Klitzing, Dorda and Pepper. Klaus von KIitzing was awarded the 1985 Nobel prize in physics for this discovery.

Why do currency crises happen? What conditions set the stage for such a crisis? How severe will it be? When will it happen? This book answers these questions, illustrating the points by examining the exchange rate realignments of the European Monetary System. It also shows how balancing the tension between domestic and international politics plays a vital part in a government's willingness to uphold its exchange rate commitments. Michele Chang pays particular attention to the role of domestic elections, since these may prevent governments from credibly committing to a fixed exchange rate and from responding quickly and coherently to market instability, thus encouraging speculation.

Despite his original training as a civil engineer, Chou Wen-Chung came to America in 1946 to pursue music. He became a protege of Edgard Varese and spent several decades teaching, composing, and advancing modern concepts in contemporary compositions. Incorporating the teachings of his mentor, yet retaining his own identity, Chou is one of the few composers to successfully integrate images and ideas from both Eastern and Western culture. His unique synthesis of the two cultures has challenged the American musical community to recognize and celebrate cultural differences, setting Chou apart in contemporary American music as an exemplary of the Chinese musical idiom. His founding of the Center for United States-China Arts Exchange has furthered his exploration of cross-cultural pollination. This book examines the composer's life and music, including biographic material, an in-depth cultural and musical analysis of his works, and receptions of his music. An assessment of Chou's unique contribution to contemporary musical synthesis, a hallmark in twentieth-century music, draws a direct link between his cross-cultural approach to composition and his family history and upbringing. His quest for an original style by widening his musical and cultural experiences - including consulting ancient Chinese sources on music and philosophy - helped to solidify his place in the musical patchwork of contemporary America. Also drawing a comparison between Chou's approach to musical synthesis and that of his Chinese colleagues, author Peter Chang's discussion generates interest in cross-cultural studies in contemporary music, promoting multicultural awareness in America and abroad, and enabling readers to understand different reactions to the Western impact on Chinese music and culture. The book's appendixes list Chou's compositions and recordings, and a chronology of performances.

Of all his brothers, "Kaiya" was the only one who knew his papa before he got sick. They did many things together and had a very special relationship. Papa taught Kaiya to play tennis and basketball and to strum the ukulele. Kaiya loved Papa's baking, especially his banana cream pies. Kaiya's nana said that they had their own special language. Even when Papa was well, Kaiya had to keep reminding Papa that his name was Kaiya. He tried different things to help Papa remember, like repeating his name over and over and making Papa a bracelet with the name Kaiya on it. After a while, Kaiya noticed that Papa was starting to forget more than just his name. He started to misplace things and put them in strange places. He thought he was still in the army or still taught tennis. He kept wandering off and getting lost. Nana told Kaiya that his papa had Alzheimer's and would probably not get better. Kaiya realized then what was more important than Papa remembering his name. He knew what he needed to do for his papa.

Perhaps the most significant event in twentieth-century American Protestant churches has been the entry of tens of thousands of women into the church's ordained ministry. How are these women's experiences as ministers different from those of their male counterparts? What are their callings and careers like? What are their prospects for employment, income, and satisfaction? Based on a wealth of statistical data as well as in-depth personal interviews, this book offers the most authoritative information ever about the real experiences of clergy women (and men), along with anecdotes that show what the life of American clergy today is really like.

As the service sectors play an increasingly important role in all economies worldwide, service executives and professionals are well advised to recognize two main pathways to achieving sustainable success in services. The first path requires enhancing the strategic differentiation and operational excellence of their service enterprises; the second requires that these executives and their employees develop the knowledge and skills needed to achieve such success. Specifically, this book discusses actionable methodologies needed to generate creative ideas, including deciding on which ones to pursue; on how to justify projects financially; on how to manage the development projects for innovative services; and on how to reach out to customers and offer them superior service support. The book will illustrate how operational excellence can be achieved by emphasizing the importance of standardizing work processes. It will demonstrate how quality can be enhanced and time-to-market can be reduced through a variety of methods including the application of tools (such as Lean Six Sigma, Value stream mapping, quality assurance, FMEA, web-based enablers and SOA-based emerging productivity tools), the incorporation of emerging technologies into the workflow and, with reference to the Profit Chain Model, the retraining of staff, with a goal of increasing their productivity, by adopting and constantly improving upon known best practices. This book summarizes the key skills and knowledge in a Three Decker framework comprised of engineering management, business management and service leadership, cumulating in an actionable Take Charge model. After having studied this book, service professionals and executives will know how to apply the actionable methodologies outlined herein to maximize their contributions in achieving sustainable success for their service employers.