Citizens

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MCKINSEY TOP 5 RECOMMENDED READ 'An underground hit' – Best Politics Books, Financial Times 'Jon has one of the few big ideas that's easily applied' – Sam Conniff, Be More Pirate 'A wonderful guide to how to be human in the 21st Century' – Ece Temelkuran, How to Lose a Country: the Seven Steps from Democracy to Dictatorship Citizens opens up a new way of understanding ourselves and shows us what we must do to survive and thrive as individuals, organisations, and nations. Over the past decade, Jon Alexander's consultancy, the New Citizenship Project, has helped revitalise some of Britain's biggest organisations including the Co-op, the Guardian and the National Trust. Here, with the New York Times bestselling writer Ariane Conrad, he shows how history is about to enter age of the Citizen. Because when our institutions treat people as creative, empowered creatures rather than consumers, everything changes. Unleashing the power of everyone equips us to face the challenges of economic insecurity, climate crisis, public health threats, and polarisation. Citizens is an upbeat handbook, full of insights, clear examples to follow, and inspiring case studies, from the slums of Kenya to the backstreets of Birmingham – and a foreword by the music producer and innovator Brian Eno. It is the perfect pick-me-up for leaders, founders, elected officials – and citizens everywhere. Organise and seize the future! Reviews It's an inspiring idea. This is an inspiring book. But it's not a "woo" book. It's a practical toolkit for improving not just our global society but all of the challenges we face, be it climate change, famine, war. And we can use the very media which has made consumers of us all to facilitate the change. Like most brilliant ideas, it's simple. And profound. The text of this book should be taught in every second-level civics class everywhere.' – Sunday Independent 'Society is like an out of control house party – eating, drinking and consuming everything. Jon is the organiser of the campfire gathering behind the party. It's calm and welcoming and you won't want to leave. In Citizens, Jon and Ariane show how to leave the burning house of the Consumer Story and join the campfire that is the Citizen Story.' – Stephen Greene, CEO of RockCorps and founding Chair of National Citizen Service UK 'The belief that every single one of us has both the potential and the desire to make the world better drives me every day, in everything I do. In Citizens, Jon shows how taking that belief as a starting point really could transform our world. This is a truly powerful book, in every sense of the word.' - Josh Babarinde, Forbes 30 Under 30 Social Entrepreneur 'Every great transformation requires a new story. A story that reveals new possibilities and points toward an optimistic alternative to the current situation. Citizens presents just such a story and if we respond to its challenge we may just manage to navigate our way out of the mess we have created for ourselves.' – Tim Brown, Chair of IDEO and author of Change By Design 'Jon is working with a set of ideas and tools that have the potential to change politics forever. In fact, they could change everything forever.' – Ian Kearns, Founder and Trustee, European Leadership Network 'The shift from consumer to citizen is a truly big idea. If you're in a position of strategic influence, I strongly recommend you engage with this and consciously explore what it might mean for your organisation.' – Dame Fiona Reynolds DBE, former chief executive National Trust

Critics Review

What are we, as members of a global society? This book argues that we are merely consumers, simply because this is what we’re told we are. But what if we were to tell ourselves a different story? What is we were to consider ourselves global citizens, with all of the freedom and responsibility this might involve?
Brian Eno, in his introduction, writes: “The two dominant narratives today are China – a Subject state with centralised power and deep surveillance – and Siliconia – a Consumer state and deep surveillance”.
Never a truer word, eh?
Jon Alexander and Ariane Conrad suggest – or rather insist – that it’s high time the dominant narrative was one created by us, the ornery human beans, rather than by the few who chase only power and money.
It’s an inspiring idea. This is an inspiring book. But it’s not a “woo” book. It’s a practical toolkit for improving not just our global society but all of the challenges we face, be it climate change, famine, war.
And we can use the very media which has made consumers of us all to facilitate the change. Like most brilliant ideas, it’s simple. And profound.
The text of this book should be taught in every second-level civics class everywhere.

Sunday Independent (Ireland)

In Citizens: Why the Key to Fixing Everything is All of Us (Canbury Press, £20/$30, 320 pages), Alexander, writing with Ariane Conrad, focuses on one particular way of improving the world: by encouraging people to think as citizens, not consumers. A former advertising man, Alexander became deeply disillusioned with his trade. He believes that the consumer society encourages people to be simultaneously entitled and passive.
Citizens, by contrast, are engaged and embrace the idea of the common good. His lively book – which has become something of an underground hit – highlights new forms of active citizenship, such as the rise of the Effective Altruism movement and the foundation of community self-help organisations in the slums of Africa.

Financial Times

When award-winning adman Jon Alexander was on his way to work one day, he started throwing up in the London Underground. He realized why: he was literally sick of his job in advertising, and more profoundly, the culture of consumerism that means each of us receives between 1,500 and 3,000 commercial messages a day. This narrative – or Consumer Story – dominates our lives so pervasively we barely notice it happening. Something had to change. The organization that Alexander went on to co-found – the New Citizenship Project – and this book, written with New York Times writer Ariane Conrad, are a consequence of that realization.
Citizens tells how consumerism is collapsing in on itself and risks bringing us all down with it in a chaos of powerlessness and ecological collapse.
But it’s mainly about how the transition ‘from consumer to citizen’ is not only essential but possible and, in some places, already happening. Five portraits of ’emblematic citizens’ – only one from the Global South, alas – show us how what starts as an individual citizen’s action can lead to far greater change to tackle shared problems that may seem insurmountable.
Upbeat, ambitious and packed with ideas and examples, this book shows how, if we exercise our power as citizens (think of citizenship as a muscle that grows with use rather than a limited space or capacity), we can create an active, participatory, collaborative Citizen Story at every level – in communities, organizations, businesses and governance.

New Internationalist

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