Future First

How successful leaders turn innovation challenges into new value frontiers

Routledge; May 2, 2018

Future First is a practical guide for any business leader who wants to build, expand, or reinvent their company by finding new value in global challenges. Traditional companies often view issues like income equality, global warming, and resource scarcity as “problems.” By contrast, future first leaders understand them as opportunities, as innovation challenges.

Through real-life business examples ranging from Nike to Opower, this book lays out how to identify and adapt the future first leadership mindset and business capabilities required to achieve lasting and integrated performance results. Future First Companies examines how leaders from companies including Unilever, Etsy, Revolution Foods, Method Products, and others have adopted this mindset toward innovation and people practices, accelerating business ecosystem transformation.

Alice Mann, an organizational psychologist with twenty years of experience consulting on executive leadership, organization design, and business transformation, interviewed scores of business leaders to understand how their companies are expanding into new value frontiers.

As featured in the Media:

Forbes Magazine: Latest Forbes Articles by Alice Mann

Talent Economy:  Alice Mann, author of “Future First: How Successful Leaders Turn Innovation Challenges Into New Value Frontiers,” talks with Senior Editor Lauren Dixon

Next Billion:  “Beyond ‘Evil Capitalists vs. Righteous Social Workers’: Innovating Solutions with Integrative Thinking” by Alice Mann

Green Biz:  “Creating new value frontiers through future first leadership” – an interview with Alice Mann

ImpactReportPodcast:  “Creating New Value Frontiers through Future First Leadership”  –a conversation with Alice Mann

Society for Human Resource Management:  “Look to the Future to Flourish” –a blog post by Alice Mann

Change This:  “Futureproof: 8 Ways to Win the Innovation Long Game” –by Alice Mann

KPCW Radio (NPR):  Mountain Money –an interview with Alice Mann

INC.com:  The Top Change Management Books of 2018 (So Far)

Read To Lead Podcast:  “How Successful Leaders Turn Innovation Challenges Into New Value Frontiers” an interview with Alice Mann

Bryant Park:  Future First: How Successful Leaders Turn Innovation Challenges into New Value Frontiers –an interview with Alice Mann

Octane Blog:  Future First: Future First: Finding Opportunity in Global Challenges –an interview with Alice Mann

Inc.:  21 Books Highly Recommended by Successful Executives

Green Biz:  The value of transformation: How future-thinking turns externalities into solutions –by Alice Mann

What they are saying:

“With her keen business acumen and deep compassion for people who will inherit our successes and failures, Mann has written a book that’s one-part business strategy, one-part inspiration, and one-part plea to the leaders of the world to consider the long-term consequences of our actions. With Future First Companies, Mann moves the corporate responsibility conversation forward by positioning social issues and global environmental degradation not as problems but innovation challenges. This is truly a must-read for any entrepreneur interested achieving lasting and integrated business results and social change.”
–Kirsten Saenz Tobey, Founder and Chief Impact Officer of Revolution Foods

“Mann’s book should be required reading for any leader considering big changes in their company, or more importantly for any leader who isn’t. “Future First Companies” breaks down the barrier between profit-driven enterprises and environmental do-gooders. They can—and should—be one and the same.”
–Mark R. Tercek, President and CEO of The Nature Conservancy and author of Nature’s Fortune

“For business leaders, investing in a more sustainable economy isn’t just the right thing to do; it’s the key to long-term business success. With a combination of statistics and storytelling, Alice Mann brings this point to life. Whether you’re a seasoned professional, a budding entrepreneur, or an individual committed to tackling the great challenges of the world, Future First Companies is a must-read.”
–Willy Foote, Founder/CEO of Root Capital

“Renewable energy produces about 20% of the world’s energy; sales of electric vehicles and organic produce are the fastest selling segments in their industries – Future First Companies is an insightful and robust guidebook to how businesses can further accelerate this transformation to a sustainable economy.”
–Nancy Pfund, Founder of Double Bottom Line Partners and early investor in Tesla Motors, SolarCity and Revolution Foods.

“With her framing of the Five Practices of Future First Companies, together with case studies of some of the leading firms working to integrate those practices into their business, Mann offers not only a window into the marketplace of tomorrow, but important insights into how today’s CEOs and managers may best position themselves to shape that future. Given her years of experience counseling leadership teams in diverse industries, she is able to offer both relevant lessons and compelling stories of how Future First Companies is a powerful framework for today’s entrepreneurs and leadership teams.”
–Jed Emerson, Author of The Impact Investor: Lessons in Collaborative Capitalism and Founder of BlendedValue.org

“Move over, ‘Shared Value’ and ‘CSR’: Here comes Alice Mann with Future First Companies. This book is a well-written, deeply-researched analysis of businesses that have not just managed but embraced society’s biggest challenges. Mann has sketched out a playbook to take companies beyond doing less harm to effecting meaningful change, with inspiring stories of the individuals making it happen.”
– Christine Bader, Author, The Evolution of a Corporate Idealist: When Girl Meets Oil; former Director, Social Responsibility, Amazon

“Mann convincingly shows in Future First Companies that a new massive wealth opportunity is at our fingertips linking sustainability and economic development.”
– Jigar Shah, Co-Founder Generate Capital

“Alice Mann nails it.  A must read for First-Movers and companies concerned with staying on the forefront of innovation.”
– Rebecca Costa, American Sociobiologist and author of The Watchman’s Rattle

“Alice Mann has written a very exciting book.  She offers leaders and their companies a practical path to a future where they can succeed by balancing profit and purpose. It turns we can ‘do well by doing right,’ and Future First Companies shows us how.”
–Erika Andersen – Founding Partner of Proteus International and Author of Be Bad First