Sirolli considers himself an economic development freedom fighter, calling on bureaucrats to be true servants of the people - to help them achieve their dreams and not try to predict or plan the future. While his stories of success are the most compelling and detailed part of the book, Sirolli also makes an unexpected leap into politics. If strong economies are based on smart, excited, passionate people rather than on resource exploitation or a few clever CEOs, then, he says, our government needs to support all individuals, including the unemployed, the elderly, certainly all children, to have their basic needs met. This premise could have implications for any number of public policies, but he only extends it to specific policy recommendations in the area of education, for which he favors radically redefining high school and moving to almost an apprenticeship system. While these institutions may sometimes be counterproductive in helping entrepreneurs get started, and may employ some approaches that should be jettisoned all together, Sirolli needs to remember that supporting all individuals includes both supporting institutions that serve a range of employment aspirations beyond entrepreneurship and supporting collective efforts to improve the quality of life.
Ripples does beg the question of scale.
Sirolli thinks so. But he doesn't follow that up with any concrete numbers or analyses of how his recommendations fit into the larger patterns of employment, technological change, or the multitude of other factors influencing economies today. Enterprise facilitation may be something business consultants have done for wealthy clients for years. Back to Bookstore .