What Should Think Tanks Do?: A Strategic Guide to Policy Impact

by Andrew Selee

Think tanks and research organizations set out to influence policy ideas and decisions—a goal that is key to the very fabric of these organizations. And yet, the ways that they actually achieve impact or measure progress along these lines remains fuzzy and underexplored. What Should Think Tanks Do? A Strategic Guide for Policy Impact is the first practical guide that is specifically tailored to think tanks, policy research, and advocacy organizations. Author Andrew Selee draws on extensive interviews with members of leading think tanks, as well as cutting-edge thinking in business and non-profit management, to provide concrete strategies for setting policy-oriented goals and shaping public opinion. Concise and practically-minded, What Should Think Tanks Do? helps those with an interest in think tanks to envision a well-oiled machine, while giving leaders in these organizations tools and tangible metrics to drive and evaluate success.

Genres: Politics, School, Nonfiction

128 pages, Paperback

First published July 31, 2013

About the author

Andrew Selee is the President of the Migration Policy Institute (www.migrationpolicy.org) and the former Executive Vice President of the Woodrow Wilson Center, where he also founded the Center's Mexico Institute. He has written and been interviewed extensively in the US and global press.

Selee was born and raised in the United States and has lived in Mexico and Denmark.

Reviews

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

File this one under life dreams. But in general, the book is both obvious and useful. Many of the recommendations aren't unexpected, but it's helpful to have someone make them concrete and provide examples of how they're implemented by groups around the US. Most useful as a summary of the field (in the early 20-teens).

[Darshan Shetty · Rating 3 out of 5]

I hear about Think tanks all the time but never really knew what exactly they did. All I knew was that these are people/organizations that even the government and policymakers listen to. A lot of policies today at the national or international levels once were an idea germinating in some think tank.

So I was curious to know more about this clandestine industry that spearheads ideas that do or could end up dictating all our lives.

There are not many books I could find on Think Tanks. Even the author of this book admitted to it, which is what propelled him to write one himself. Good for me!

The core objective of this book can be understood by this excerpt from the book
"What emerged is this brief book, which is designed as a practical guide for think tank professionals—researchers, fellows, program directors, senior leaders, and board members— who want to think strategically about what they do and how they can do it better.
This book looks at how successful think tanks develop systematic approaches to planning for impact and how they learn from the experience so that they make the greatest possible difference in public ideas and policy decisions."

The book is pretty short, about 120 pages only, and is divided into 5 chapters talking about setting goals as a think tank, finding its uniqueness, identifying its key audience, allocating resources, and building a feedback loop for long-time horizon projects.

A recurring question asked about think tanks is how are they different from academia. This excerpt should clear up that question.
“There is no shortage of ideas that come out of traditional academic institutions,
advocacy groups, the private sector, and other sources. However, think tanks are structurally set up to produce, analyze, and share policy ideas in agile and often effective ways and to
make sure they reach key policy audiences and the attentive public.”

So bottom line that I learned from this book is that all the think tanks in the world do one of 3 things.
Framing Ideas and Issues through strategizing
Providing Policy Alternatives through research
Shaping Decision Making at the Govt level through networking and outreach

Some think tanks are aligned to a particular political or ideological position and they desire to influence. Other think tanks avoid any political or ideological
identification and they mainly desire to inform.
All strategic think tanks, whether they have an ideological agenda or not, seek to have an impact on public ideas and public policy; they just take different routes to get there.

Overall, the book to me was like a better version of the Wikipedia page on Think Tanks. It does not provide deep dive into any specific operation of Think Tanks. However it did serve the objective I had when I picked up this book, which was to get a good introduction to Think Tanks, so I am pleased. Additionally, it does give a lot of examples from existing think tanks which is good to hammer a point.

I give this book 3 of 5 stars and recommend it if you are interested in the subject.

[Austin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is very much in the 'for work' category of my 2017 reading choices. It's helping me figure out the strategy for my new position, but I think it would be of interest to anyone who works at, with, or funds a think tank or similar organization. It's very manageable in length but hits a lot of great points and includes many useful examples for each principle. Selee interviewed NGO experts in many different sectors and from the whole political spectrum, so this book is much more about the "how" than the what or why. I highly recommend it as a way to think about how to plan and execute policy-relevant work. I knew it was going to be unusually valuable when I found myself using a highlighter for (literally) the first time in years.


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52 books in 52 weeks update:
book number: 29 / 52

scorecard (see below):
W: 15/26
NW: 12/26
NA: 13/20
D: 2/5
F: 14
NF: 14

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Notes: I'm trying to read 52 books this year. To make sure I'm getting a broad range, I'm tracking some metrics. Open to more if folks have suggestions. My goal is to read books that are:
at least half by women
at least half not by white people
at least 20 by non-americans
at least 5 that I don't think I'll like or agree with going in

I'll also go for about half fiction and half non-fiction

[Iain Hamill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short little book on the strategy of think tanks. American focus, but helpful.

[Tara · Rating 2 out of 5]

A nice intro guide to how to approach strategy at a think tank, however there didn't seem to be enough think tank specific info. Many of the lessons here could just as easily apply to any business, the focus on identifying your target market, setting key metrics to measure impact and figuring out you niche are lessons that could be gleaned from any business strategy book. The books also wasn't a particularly fun or interesting read.