FROM VISION TO ACTION | A Busboys and Poets Books Presentation

Drawing on his extensive experience, John Marks has written a practitioner’s guide to the underlying principles of social entrepreneurship, while offering a master class in effective negotiation and conflict resolution. John describes how he created real-life breakthroughs during his time leading Search for Common Ground, which he founded and built with his wife, Susan Collin Marks, into the world’s largest peacebuilding nonprofit – nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Beginning with an improbable effort to promote cooperation between the CIA and the KGB, this book features examples that range from helping prevent genocide in Burundi, to retraining the entire Congolese army in respecting human rights, to using children’s television to lessen ethnic tensions in Macedonia, to creating a culture of mediation in Morocco.

John Marks is joining us on the Busboys stage to give us more insight into what it means to be a social entrepreneur. Copies of the book will be available for purchase during and after the event, and Marks will be signing following the program.

This event is free and open to all. Our program begins at 5:30 pm, and will be followed by an audience Q&A. Copies of FROM VISION TO ACTION will be available for purchase before and after the event. Please note that this event is in person and will not be livestreamed. 

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John Marks was until 2014 the President of Search for Common Ground, a non-profit organization he founded in 1982 and built with his wife Susan Collin Marks into the world’s largest peacebuilding NGO with 600 staff members and offices in 36 countries.  He also founded Common Ground Productions and is still a Senior Advisor to both organizations.  In 2018, his work was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize.  In addition, he is a Visiting Scholar in Peacebuilding and Social Entrepreneurship at Leiden University in the Netherlands.  He is a best-selling, award-winning author, a former US Foreign Service Officer, a Skoll Awardee in Social Entrepreneurship, and an Ashoka Senior Fellow.  He has been a Fellow at Harvard’s Institute of Politics and a Visiting Scholar at Harvard Law School.  The UN’s University of Peace has awarded him an honorary PhD. 

Host or Publisher Busboys and Poets