About Jerry
Who is Jerry Sternin?
Jerry Sternin (1938-2008) was a visionary leader and the driving force behind the Positive Deviance (PD) approach to behavior and social change. He dedicated his distinguished career to empowering communities worldwide to solve their most pressing problems from within, identifying and amplifying uncommon but successful behaviors that already exist among certain individuals or groups. His methodology emphasized practical, sustainable solutions over traditional expert-driven interventions.
Sternin’s work profoundly impacted various fields, from combating child malnutrition to fostering organizational transformation. His legacy lies in demonstrating that solutions to complex challenges often reside within the affected communities themselves, waiting to be discovered and disseminated.
What is Jerry Sternin known for?
Jerry Sternin is predominantly known as the founder and leading proponent of the Positive Deviance methodology. This innovative approach focuses on identifying "positive deviants"—individuals or groups within a community who, despite facing the same challenges and limited resources as their peers, exhibit uncommon but successful behaviors that allow them to find better solutions.
Sternin's groundbreaking application of PD in Vietnam in the 1990s to address child malnutrition dramatically showcased its effectiveness. By observing and learning from mothers whose children were well-nourished despite widespread malnutrition, his teams helped communities reduce malnutrition rates by an astonishing 65-85% within two years. This success demonstrated that sustainable change could be achieved by fostering internal solutions and peer-to-peer learning rather than imposing external expertise.
He is also recognized for advocating for behavior change over mere knowledge transfer, believing that understanding "what to do" is less impactful than understanding "how to do it." Sternin co-authored "Your Company’s Secret Change Agents" in the Harvard Business Review (May 2005) with Richard Tanner Pascale, which adapted the Positive Deviance framework for business and organizational transformation.
What is Jerry Sternin's background and experience?
Jerry Sternin possessed extensive international experience, having worked across numerous cultures and contexts. He dedicated 16 years as Director of Programs for Save the Children, serving in critical roles in Vietnam, Bangladesh, Egypt, Philippines, and Myanmar. His tenure with Save the Children provided him with firsthand experience in the challenges of international development and the opportunities for community-led solutions.
Prior to his work with Save the Children, Sternin served for eight years as a Peace Corps volunteer and director in the Philippines, Nepal, Mauritania, and Rwanda. These roles further honed his understanding of community dynamics and the power of local engagement. His distinguished career also included positions as a visiting scholar and professor of nutrition at Tufts University's Friedman School, starting in 2001, where he directed the Positive Deviance Initiative (PDI) with support from the Ford Foundation. He was also a former assistant dean at Harvard Business School, bringing a unique blend of academic rigor and practical field experience to his work.
What topics does Jerry Sternin speak and write about?
Jerry Sternin's primary focus in his speaking and writing was the Positive Deviance approach, its theoretical underpinnings, and its practical applications. He illuminated how to identify and scale solutions generated by local wisdom rather than relying on external "best practices." His insights covered a range of topics, including:
- Community-based problem-solving: Empowering local populations to identify and implement their own solutions.
- Behavioral change: Understanding and facilitating sustainable shifts in individual and collective behaviors.
- Social innovation: Developing novel approaches to persistent social challenges.
- Organizational change: Applying Positive Deviance principles to drive transformation within businesses and institutions.
- International development: Crafting effective, culturally sensitive interventions in diverse global settings.
Through his work, he consistently championed the idea that extraordinary solutions often lie hidden within ordinary communities, waiting for someone to observe, understand, and amplify them.
How does Jerry Sternin contribute to the Best Practice Institute?
Jerry Sternin is recognized by the Best Practice Institute for his seminal work on the Positive Deviance approach, which aligns seamlessly with BPI's mission to identify, codify, and disseminate best practices in leadership and organizational development. Although Sternin passed away in 2008 and was not a current expert faculty member, his methodology is a fundamental concept explored in discussions about effective change management and leadership within the BPI community. His webinar, "Positive Deviance Approach for Behavior and Social Change From the Inside Out," serves as a testament to the enduring relevance of his ideas, highlighting how traditional expert-driven models often fail while internally generated solutions, like those identified through PD, lead to lasting change. BPI acknowledges Sternin as a foundational thinker whose innovative strategies continue to inspire and inform modern approaches to leadership, organizational effectiveness, and community building, demonstrating how observing and amplifying positive outliers can create significant, sustainable impact.