THE SOCIAL INNOVATOR?S PLAYBOOK: a process to develop great products and services: A Company's Guide to Creating Innovation from the Bottom Up

The Social Innovator’s Playbook: A Company’s Guide to Creating Innovation from the Bottom Up is based upon the knowledge gained through working with hundreds of social innovators both within and external to for profit and not for profit organizations. The Social Innovator's Playbook is a recipe for Social Innovators to dream and develop their social sector idea leading to successful launches. The key to the recipe for launching a social innovation is teaching social sector innovators “how” to think and not "what" to think. Most importantly it is about tapping into individual passions and motivations and create the opportunity to test and develop them into valued products and services.

Nicholas Torres, M.Ed. has over 20 years of experience in executive management and social innovations. He built and led a nationally recognized human services organization; founded multiple charter schools and nonprofits, and currently leads a social sector think tank organization. From 2000 - 2010, Mr. Torres served as President of Congreso de Latinos Unidos, where he transformed the organization from a traditional social services agency into a comprehensive, children and family-oriented human services nonprofit. He achieved this by integrating education, behavioral health, and primary healthcare into one service model. Under his leadership, Congreso was awarded one of six national leadership investments from the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation, in recognition of the organization's commitment to young people, aged 16 -24. As a result of this investment, Mr. Torres created an innovative performance management system which measured organizational effectiveness for over 50 service lines and 17,000 clients. Mr. Torres also served as a member of the National Alliance for Effective Social Investments, which led the nation on integrating Social Impact Indicators into nonprofit best practices. Currently, Mr. Torres serves as the Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Social Innovations Partners, which manages the Social Innovation Journal, Institute, & Lab. He also oversees Parent Reading Coach(TM), a technology-based Early Literacy Company. Outside of his work with nonprofits, he teaches classes at the University of Pennsylvania's Fels Institute of Government and Wharton School of Business. Mr. Torres has co-authored several books, and has received multiple advocacy and leadership awards, including the Eisenhower Fellowship. Mr. Torres received his BA from Carleton College and his Master in Educational Psychology from the University of Texas at Austin.