Rebels and Heretics

How to spark a movement in an organization

The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals or SPCA is a bit of a misnomer. Though they have done great work as a non-profit to improve the general welfare for animals, there has been a darker story behind their public brand. The problem is that they also kill animals.

There are many reasons given for killing animals from population control to illness. Then in 1994, Rich Avanzino and Nathan Winograd led San Francisco in becoming the first no-kill animal shelter. Despite vehement opposition, including from other SPCA’s, they stuck to their vision and the no-kill movement later spread to other parts of the country.

On Twitter last week someone asked about books or essays that have changed your views on a topic you care about. I offered two texts that radically alerted my views in recent years:

· 1000 True Fans by Kevin Kelly

· The Radical Leap by Steve Farber

Both books have been instrumental on the topic of creating value for others and in building engaged communities. There was a third piece of writing that I neglected to mention though, one that was just as critical and is the glue that ties the ideas behind 1000 True Fans and The Radical Leap together.

Seth Godin has been someone that I have followed for nearly two decades when he first wrote on the state of marketing with his excellent book Purple Cow. A few years later he released the book…