A Leader-ful Movement

February 18, 2015 Leave a comment

We are living through the early days of the next civil rights movement. It is an exhilarating moment. No, it does not read like the linear narrative of our history books and movement building manuals. That is because books and manuals are usually written with the benefit of hindsight to weave a story together. This movement is emergent and it takes a sharp eye to understand it.

Tip #1: You and Oprah should let go of old definitions of leadership

Jodie Tonita of the Social Transformation Project has recently published one of the sharpest articulations of leadership and how it works in the #BlackLivesMatter movement. I urge you to read it in its entirety.

Image of leaders

Names, bios, and more at revolt.tv.

I am part of a network of people that has been exploring ideas of networks, decentralization and leadership for 21st Century movements. After more than a decade focused on this paradigm shift it is nothing short of exhilarating to witness and support what is being born.

The low ego/high impact model is integral to network theory. Networks fall apart when participant leaders start to fall into conditioned patterns that satisfy the ego and its attachment to scarcity.

The importance of “cultivat[ing] deep bonds of love and trust among leaders as we simultaneously practice new ways of strategizing and working together” has been at the core of our practice. This is indeed how we can “Collectively [build] the human infrastructure of an increasingly aligned, coordinated, and effective progressive movement and most importantly the human infrastructure needed to meet the complex challenges of our times.”

The IISC lens is the intersection of these three actions:

It is an exhilarating moment.

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