How to Change the World

Look at any organization’s mission statement and you’re likely to find a desire to create “impact.” It’s the word of our time, speaking to the near-universal aspiration to affect society in some positive, tangible way. Universities are no exception in wanting to have impact—not just to transform students’ lives but to generate world-changing scholarship. But what does it mean for something as intangible as a new idea to have an effect akin to a meteor striking the Earth?

David Guston tackles this question head-on: “Now that impact is a goal, we in the academic community need to elucidate a nuanced understanding of what we really mean by impact, how we imagine it happens, and what we as scholars might do individually and collectively to work toward it.”

By breaking down categories of impact and outlining ways that universities might measure and encourage it, Guston offers insights into how schools can develop the skills required to generate impact. “If universities want to deliver on the goal of having a beneficial impact on their community, their state, their nation, or their world,” he writes, “they must find a way to inculcate these skills.”

Read more about a framework for nurturing scholarship that produces impact, now and in the future.