Warren Nilsson

Warren is an Associate Professor of Social Innovation at the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business, where he also serves as the Academic Director of the MPhil in Inclusive Innovation program.
His research focuses on the organizational dynamics of social change. He is particularly interested in the relationship between positive organizing and social innovation. Why are some organizations so good at disrupting previously intractable patterns of behavior, belief, and relationship? How can social purpose organizations develop a sustained capacity for ongoing institutional reimagination? His research exploring the concept of “positive institutional work” has appeared in the Academy of Management Review and the Stanford Social Innovation Review, and he is a faculty affiliate of the Center for Positive Organizations at the University of Michigan.
Warren holds a PHD in Management (Strategy and Organization) from McGill University, an MBA from the University of Baltimore, and a BA (College Scholar) from Cornell University. Prior to entering academia, he spent ten years in the community development sector in the United States. He continues to have a passion for connecting his academic research to practitioner-driven social initiatives and has worked with social purpose organizations in North America, Africa, and South Asia. He is the co-founder of Organization Unbound ( www.organizationunbound.org) , an international community of inquiry and experimentation exploring how social purpose organizations can more closely align their internal practices and cultures with their external social change goals.
This practice of “expressive change” is introduced in a short film called “Changing the Way We Change the World,” available on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOSSb5d1lq4