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“Leadership for this era is not a role or a set of traits; it is a zone of inter-relational process. Step in, step out.” – Nora Bateson, Small Arcs of Larger Circles
The concept of leadership has been undergoing a rapid evolution. Especially in this “network age,” there appears to be both a growing appreciation that leadership has always been about more than the singular and highly visible “heroic individual,” and that, going forward, leadership must be upheld as much more of a shared and multidimensional practice.
In much of the collaborative consulting work that we do through the Interaction Institute for Social Change, leadership (or what we at IISC often call Facilitative Leadership™) is about “holding the whole.” That is, there is a need for groups, teams, organizations, and communities to think more expansively about a given system (community, economy, food system, organization, school, or school district) and pay attention to what is required to support resiliency and/or change for more equitable and sustained benefit. In these situations, the traditional top-down images of leadership fall short.
In the world of education, for example, we have seen hopes often pinned on seemingly superhuman teachers and principals who are brought in to “rescue failing kids and schools.” The assumption underlying these moves is that these extraordinary individuals will, by their own will, beat the odds and dramatically reverse some kind of “downward trend.” This story may be the making of a box office smash, but in reality it is met with mixed results at best. This is not to say that individuals cannot provide crucial sparks at important moments in organizations and communities. But holding out for heroic singular leadership ignores the complex reality of what got us to where we are, and it denies the more connected response that is required.
“Leadership is helping to make the network smarter.” –Harold Jarche from his blog
Network leadership at its best is dynamic, diverse, and multi-dimensional. Many of our partners in the work of social change understand this implicitly, and we have found it can be helpful to be more explicit about this by naming some of the roles that leadership can embody in a collaborative/networked world.
One overarching and all-encompassing role, with a bow of recognition to June Holley for coining the term, is “network guardianship.” Network guardianship is first and foremost about promoting and modeling fundamental network values such as transparency, openness, respect, generosity, and mutualism, all of which contribute to the creation of conditions that can nurture strong connections, robust flows, so-called “net effects,” and shared value. Many, if not all, of the important roles in networks contribute to establishing a collaborative and trusting culture. This culture is important to create and protect, especially at the outset of an initiative (in a state-wide food justice initiative that we helped to start, we referred to the early conveners of the network as “network gardeners”), though it is also important to keep networks from becoming too protected such that they become exclusionary.
“In a…network community…everyone is involved in creating and working toward that same common purpose and vision… everyone is equal, and all are able to act.” –Mila N. Baker, Peer-to-Peer Leadership
More specifically, there are a number of core roles or functions that we can put under the heading of “network leadership” that collectively feed the soil and nurture collaborative cultures for connections and flows to flourish.
Convening
A convener is a person or group who provides the social capital and connections to pull people together and some of the resources (money, space, technology) to build and support a network. Conveners in our practice are often foundations, municipal governments, academic institutions, and community-based organizations. A well-connected and trusted individual can also be a convener. This role includes championing the cause, raising awareness, and making the initial and ongoing invitation to come together.
Design (of Process and Structure)
The “design team,” in IISC’s practice, is comprised of a diverse group of people representing different parts of the system upon which an initiative is focused. This team maps out a pathway of activities that help to move a wider group of actors from disparateness to cohesion and, in many cases, from vision to action. Designers take on and enjoy creating experiences that enliven and bring out the best in a diverse group of people, including the creation of space for difficult conversations and building trust. Designers also think carefully about structures and supports that will facilitate equitable access and value through and in a network or networked activity, whether in-person or online.
Facilitation
A facilitator is a person or team of people who steward the overall process of network development and activation. Facilitators hold the space for productive conversations, listen to the wishes and wisdom of those who are convened, help to build alignment and agreement (if needed/desired), support self-organized activity, and balance structured discussion with openness to emergent possibilities. Ideally, facilitators are also able to capably address power dynamics and create spaces for diverse and equitable participation and belonging.
Weaving
According to June Holley: “A network weaver is someone aware of the networks around them and explicitly works to make them healthier. They do this by helping people identify their interests and challenges, connecting people strategically where there’s potential for mutual benefit, and catalyzing self-organizing groups.” In one particular regional network we support, there is a group of funded individuals called “Ambassadors” who are charged with reaching out to under-represented and often marginalized groups. Weaving supports the creation of internal group coherence (bonding) and “small world reach” (bridging to adjacent groups and networks) with a mind toward creating value for individual participants and the broader collective.
Communications and Curation
Communications in social change networks can be a complex role, not necessarily the same as organizational communications. It is about helping to create and fill a variety of channels (one-to-one, one-to-many, many-to-many) so that people can stay connected, share freely, and learn in timely ways. In many cases, it is also helpful to have a role or roles committed to content curation—soliciting, aggregating, distilling, highlighting, and organizing an abundance of information and other resources to help people stay engaged and seeking and sharing information.
Provocation
Being a provocateur can be an informal or formal role and is often filled by a person or people who can ask the otherwise unasked questions. The provocateur challenges a group or initiative when it is reaching agreement too easily or getting too comfortable and safe with its work and thinking. Often provocateurs are found in those at the periphery of networks or who span boundaries of various kinds.
Coordination
Network coordination often comes down in large part to creating and maintaining a support infrastructure, scheduling common meeting times, and ensuring that people have access to relevant resources. Especially in complex action-oriented networks this is a crucial function, without which things can quickly unravel!
Implementation/Prototyping
“Implementation” can look different from network to network. This might be about putting into action a shared and structured “strategic plan” of some kind through formalized work groups. But it can also look like individuals experimenting with and honing nascent and promising ideas as they emerge through learning and conversation. Sometimes experimentation occurs at the “edges” of larger formalized projects through spontaneous new partnerships (such as ad hoc task teams and communities of practice) forming and trying out new things. This is self-organization, where the magic in networks often happens.
Governance
This is the function that many people want to turn to first in multi-organizational collaborative networks. How will we make decisions? How will we develop policy or make strategic choices? How will we get things done? There are valid questions, and if the default is a traditional governing board structure, or a steering committee, it can limit network potential. Sometimes that is what is called for, and as my mentor and fellow network enthusiast Jessica Lipnack has said, “You only needenoughstructure to facilitate conversation and make crucial decisions.” Less is often more. A network principle that I find helpful to share is subsidiarity in governance – decisions are best made by those closest to the ground or point of implementation. Governance should help the network be leaders-full!
Consider this a starter list of important roles and functions. They are not necessarily all present, or present at the same time or in the same way, in all networks. And regardless of which ones are activated, they are all made that much more useful through the intention of making the network smarter.
What does leadership look and feel like in your networks and networked activities?
Which roles and functions are present? Which ones are missing?
What could be done to grow and spread network leadership?
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This year marks 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence. We know the promise it made – that all men are created equal – was never actually extended to all men, much less to all who are not men. Some of us who were not part of the “all” are still out here trying to realize that promise. It turns out that’s a lot like gardening: you don’t plant something without tilling the soil. And you don’t plant once and call the work done until harvest time. You keep showing up. I’ve been reminded of this as I’ve been showing up to a much less noble fight in my own yard.
My yard and the area across our fence along the train tracks have been invaded by Japanese Knotweed, an aggressive invasive species that crowds out local plant life. It’s actually all over our neighborhood. I’ve been battling it for years, without much success. Its persistence in the face of my efforts reminds me of racism, sexism, and all the related isms.
What might we learn from the struggle against invasive weeds in our work for a more beautiful, sustainable, and just world? Let’s start with the basics about dealing with invasives (with thanks to Mass Audubon, Town of Concord MA, and University of New Hampshire Extension).
Removal. Pull up weeds by the roots, cut or dig with hand tools, smother, or apply chemicals to the roots or stump (of a larger plant). Your choice of methods depends on the plant and how pervasively it has invaded your space.
This has been my major focus. Every few days or weeks, the pulling begins again. Even when I spent time cutting back the plants on the other side of our property line, It takes a lot of effort, and it feels good for a moment to see the work of my hands – no seedlings today! Still, I know that I’m only addressing the current situation, not actually solving the problem. I know the plants will return – and each year they get a little taller and a little thicker than the year before.
Disposal. It’s not enough to cut or pull and simply drop the plants because they are likely to drop seeds that create new plants. Depending on the type of weed and how easily it spreads, you might need to burn, chip, bag, bury, drown, tarp-and-dry, or drop at a composting facility (if they haven’t gone to seed).
This has been a major mistake for me. I simply pull or cut and throw the uprooted plants over the fence. Somehow, even though I know better, I’m not doing better!
Photos by Cynthia Silva Parker
Prevention and replacement. Nature – including soil – abhors a vacuum. So, it’s important to plant or replant fast-growing native plants quickly in order to “outcompete” any residual weeds. And, it’s essential to monitor for reappearing seedlings and uproot them quickly.
I haven’t gotten to this point in the struggle against the Knotwood because I’m constantly pulling up plants that spring up in the middle of grass or areas covered in mulch or stones. They’ve even poked through the stones in my house’s pudding stone foundation – ugh! I simply haven’t done the work of really clearing the space and replanting it with healthy local alternatives.
So what does this have to do with uprooting racism, sexism, and the other isms and creating healthy, equitable, and inclusive organizations and communities? Maybe everything!
Removal. How often do we treat racism, sexism, and other isms as if they are things we can uproot with a specific intervention that is typically unequal to the task (like my constant pulling up of seedlings), and then are surprised when they reappear in the same spot or somewhere else in our work. Remember what Jay Smooth taught us: It’s important to treat the “removal” of racism (and other isms) like dental hygiene (a maintenance routine we have to do every day), rather than a tonsillectomy (a one-and-done situation). And, to extend his metaphor, let’s make sure we’re using a toothbrush and toothpaste that will really get our teeth clean.
Let’s also make sure that we are not relying on interventions at the internalized or interpersonal levels (e.g., awareness building and interpersonal skills) to make changes at the institutional or structural levels (e.g., policy and practice change, shifts in cultural narratives, power building by and with those most impacted by the isms and deliberate efforts to work at the intersections of multiple isms). And let’s not do what I’ve been doing with my weeds – put in a lot of effort and feel good momentarily about things that are not actually solving the problem at the root.
Disposal. The effort to “dispose” of racism takes many forms: changing laws and policies; ensuring adequate representation at decision-making tables (organizationally and societally); ensuring that we communicate history accurately so we don’t repeat the errors and transgressions of the past, and resisting efforts to ignore present-day manifestations of racism and its impact on individuals and communities; replacing stereotypes and racist tropes in popular culture and discourse with liberating and enlivening images and stories of hope and progress in the face of oppression; and working against voter suppression and other policies designed to reduce participation in our democracy. Let’s not repeat my mistake with weeds, just dropping the weeds I’ve pulled without proper disposal, so that they can simply reroot themselves.
Prevention and Replacement. Here is where I am both hopeful and concerned. In the U.S., we are seeing a competition between competing visions for the future. There are many who long for, and are actively working for a return to a time American “greatness” – which typically means a time when white men were in charge, everyone else had a place lower in the social, economic, and political hierarchy, and the needs of the planet and our non-human relatives were overlooked in favor of profit for corporations and wealthy individuals. At the same time, many of us long for and are working toward a country that practices its founding values, and where all people and the natural world are able to thrive, not barely survive. A 250th anniversary is as good a moment as any to ask honestly which of these visions we are actually tending. Let’s not ignore the need to clear the ground and plant something better.
In this moment of a “great unraveling,” I’m reminded of the 4 Rs of Social Transformation: Reform, Resist, Recreate, and Reimagine. If we ever needed all 4 Rs, we need them now – to reform and restore practices by public and private institutions that create more diversity, equity, and inclusion; to resist efforts to roll back the clock to pre-Civil Rights era levels of representation in the political, economic, and cultural life of the nation; and to reimagine a multiracial democracy that lives up to its founding values; and to recreate networks and local ecosystems (both natural and social) that enable people and the natural world to thrive.
What does prevention and replacement look like in practice?
We at IISC have spent 30+ years working alongside organizations and networks trying to do more than pull weeds. What we’ve learned is that prevention and replacement requires investing in conditions for collective action, not just individual awareness. It requires building the relational infrastructure that allows people to move together over time. It requires deep exploration of what drives the current conditions, willingness to discover effective solutions, and creativity to imagine a future yet unborn. And it requires leaders who can sustain themselves in the midst of it all.
That’s why we offer spaces like Gathering to Rise, a leadership cohort for Black, Indigenous, Latine, Arab, Middle Eastern, North African, Asian, and Pacific Islander women and gender-expansive leaders, alongside our facilitation, training, and network weaving work. Because you can’t plant something beautiful if the people doing the planting are running on empty. And it’s why we guide people to become Facilitative Leaders who can create the conditions for self-empowerment so that people can work together to pursue their wildest dreams together.
If your organization is ready to move beyond pulling weeds to clear the ground and build something that can actually work for all, whatever the next 250 years ask of us, we’d love to start a conversation with you.
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The other day, in a fundraising conversation at IISC, we were discussing the perception that several funders that we know are moving away from investing in intermediaries – capacity-builders and those who support the infrastructure of the nonprofit ecosystem. Instead, they are focused on getting money to the “front lines” – community organizers and movement leaders, who are often those first in the line of fire from those who wield their power inappropriately.
In certain regards it makes sense to bring financial resources right to the action-takers and service providers. But it also made me scratch and shake my head when I think of it with the framing from energy systems science (ESS), a field that looks at how systems thrive and regenerate.
What Healthy Systems Teach Us
One of the valuable observations from ESS is that healthy complex systems tend to have combinations of many small entities, fewer mid-sized ones, and even fewer large ones, that are linked and create important pathways for the flow of crucial resources. Think of a river delta, a tree branching structure, or veins in a leaf or in our human bodies (see graphic below).
This structure helps resources, information, and support flow throughout a system so that communities on the ground can be strong amidst unpredictable turbulence (environmental, economic, cultural, political). This is crucial for any complex system’s “regenerative capacity,” or its ability to maintain long-term vitality, whether we are talking about banking and finance structures, complex human communities, or more-than-human ecosystems.
The Danger of a “Top Heavy” System
Something that can make a system fragile and unsustainable is when it becomes “top-heavy” – those at the top of the structure (aka “functional” hierarchy) suck up and hoard too many resources, essentially starving the rest of the system. This is obvious to many of us in these times of hyper-extraction and oligarchic capitalism. Another phenomenon that destabilizes a structure is when there is a hollowing out of the middle. For example, if you only have very large banks and/or other financial structures along with very small would-be recipients of funding, those on “the bottom” can easily get overwhelmed. And the entire system becomes destabilized with its “teetering top.” What is needed is a mitigating/mediating structure (for example, mid-sized banks/financial organizations) that can handle the flows from the top and then sustainably pass funding and other resources along.
The Missing Middle
We are hearing stories of many people who are suffering because of the shrinking middle – small municipalities and organizations suddenly receiving large amounts of federal funding they do not have the staffing or infrastructure to manage, and people spiraling in anger/outrage for lack of mediators who might otherwise help hold spaces for peaceful discussion and debate between (and among) those on top and those on the bottom. We also see growing challenges in the shrinking space of intentional and collective learning, which we can think about as sitting between total comfort with status quo and change that takes us into our “panic zone.” When a funder/financier says that they don’t think that “the middle” matters at this time, they are essentially contributing to the hollowing out and a further weakening of crumbling systems.
As an organization that plays a connective function, we at IISC know the value of “mediating” in a variety of ways (including through facilitation, convening, network weaving), as well as distributing key lessons from and to the roots (training and coaching). Others play crucial roles that can provide different kinds of cover, buffer and support for those who feel under threat and/or are overstretched. The point being that so much value is created in these spaces between “top and bottom,” core and periphery. And we are seeing this value being increasingly devalued.
Bridging Toward What Comes Next
The middle can definitely be a lonely place these days. And of course, that matters to those of us who can function as connectors in a variety of ways. But it is also true that this should matter to everyone, including funders/financiers, because the “missing middle” will continue to contribute to bloating the top, overwhelming and/or starving the bottom and risk taking us into very dark times.
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The Interaction Institute for Social Change is seeking an Interim President to support our organization through a pivotal transitional period which we estimate to be 12 to 18 months, subject to agreement between the Interim President and the Board of Directors.
As the Interim President, you will be responsible for tending to four major priorities: Transition Support and Guidance, Organizational Culture and Wellbeing, Revenue and Strategy Development and External Relationships, and Governance and Board Collaboration.
While participating in the day-to-day activities, this role will support the organization’s overall sense of stability and vision by guiding us through this transitional period and collaboratively developing the recommendations and changes needed to move the organization into its next chapter. This role will speak to a person who is energized by supporting the staff of a mission-driven organization in the advancement of racial equity and social justice, specifically with an eye toward organizational change, network building, and strategy development.
This position is offered as a full-time role, including the competitive compensation and benefits package offered to all staff: a 4-day workweek, virtual office equipment and utility reimbursement, a generous PTO package, 100% medical, dental, vision coverage for individual employees, spouses, domestic partners and dependents, and more.
The Transition
Our current President has served us unwaveringly for 10 years, deepening our commitment to shared leadership and social change, both internally and with our clients and partners. As we continue much of the transformative work that we’ve done as an organization for the last 30 years, we also see this moment as a time to expand our impact, growth, and financial strategies. The Interim President will be a critical stabilizing and supportive force, working with our staff and Board of Directors to help IISC shape our strategic initiatives, deepen our shared leadership, and lead us through this next chapter until we bring in a new President in 2027.
The Details
Location: 100% Remote
Start Date: Mid-July to Early-August
Salary Range: $131,700 – $151,600
Travel: Variable, up to two days a month on average
Reports To: Chair of the Board of Directors, serves as voting member of the Board of Directors
Image Description: Illustration of a hand with a medium-dark skin tone holding a dandelion as its seeds blow away in the wind against a blue background. By Pablo De Rossi via Unsplash.
After ten years at the Interaction Institute for Social Change, I will be transitioning to my next opportunity. Leading IISC has been one of the most powerful and evolutionary experiences of my career, and even though it’s hard to leave, I am so proud of what we have built together and what this transition makes possible.
How We Have Built Together
Decades ago, I met Renae Gray, a Black woman activist and group facilitator, who sat cross-legged in a chair, raised her hands to the group, and animatedly led us in a conversation about strategy and organizing. She wasn’t the voice in the room; she was the container through which we opened our hearts and processed the harsh realities of our failing justice campaigns. That experience shaped how I came to understand leadership and facilitation – it’s about creating the conditions for others to step fully into their own clarity and power.
That thread carried me through my early experiences with facilitation, through learning from leaders like Valerie Batts of VISIONS, Inc., and eventually to IISC: as a participant, partner, and later as a member of the team. When IISC faced financial challenges and a leadership transition, I stepped in as Interim President, and together we navigated a period that required steadiness and trust from all of us.
When I was formally hired as President, we anchored our work in racial equity as a central driver of collaboration, strengthened our financial position, navigated COVID, and responded to a growing demand for racial justice. We leaned into shared leadership and deepened our work with clients, partners, and networks. We received $2 million without asking and used it in service of our mission and community care.
Transitions as a Strength
At IISC, we have learned that transitions are a natural part of work. As Miriam Messinger, our former Director of Practice, wrote in Passing the Torch: What It Means to Transition with Care, leadership changes areoften treated as crises, when they can instead be opportunities to build trust, deepen relationships, and grow collective capacity.
Over more than 30 years, the IISC team has developed practices for leading through uncertainty and organizational transitions. Shared leadership, collaboration, and love are part of how the organization operates and continues to grow.
In July, I will step into a new role as Director of Transformation at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, where I will work with the team to advance its networked organization grounded in racial equity, leadership, and community.
Collective Courage
I have been shaped by you and will carry you with me into this position and my future.
I have deep trust in the people carrying forward IISC’s work. New leadership is taking shape, fresh ideas are emerging, and IISC is helping communities at every level cultivate collective courage, love, and vibrant networks.
Stand tall in these times for collaboration, for racial equity, and never forget how powerful you are, and we are together.
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In a recent conversation with a group of people about my passion for and interest in “energy systems science,” I briefly mentioned Richard Barrett, who has done a lot of work on organizational values over the years. In a recent Substack post, he talked about a vital “flow” that is lacking from many organizations – love.
This is something we bring up a lot in our work with partners. Love is one facet of our collaborative change lens (see image below), and vital for collaborative efforts to ensure long-term human and socio-ecological thriving.
IISC Collaborative Change Lens
The late Chilean systems biologist Humberto Maturana has written how critical love is to human systems. In fact, he has gone so far as to say that it is the only emotion that significantly increases human intelligence. Clinical psychologist Barbara Frederickson at the University of North Carolina has also looked at how love can do everything from increase our peripheral vision to reduce our biases when it comes to people who appear different from us on the surface of things.
But back to Barrett’s post – at one point he states:
“Most systems were not designed for the level of complexity they now face. Love, as capacity, was never built explicitly into their architecture. This work begins not with slogans, but with attention. With noticing where presence withdraws under pressure. With asking what becomes unsayable — and why.”
Here he is alluding to the second of four pillars of energy systems science – “resilient structures” – which supports the first pillar – “regenerative flows.” These structures can be tangible and intangible, including structures of agreements and cultural norms, policies and procedures, physical design and layout of a space, and institutional structures for distributing resources.
Clearly, what we are seeing and feeling in this country and around the globe is evidence of structures that have not let love, in all of its forms (see image above from Roman Krznaric’s book, The Wonderbox: Curious Histories of How to Live) getting to certain people and places. And because everything is connected, this impacts other people and places (there really is no “other,” or outside).
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
This was recently conveyed to me in a different way by partners we support in Oklahoma around cultural renewal in the state. One person said, “People need to understand that what happens here in Oklahoma is not just about Oklahoma.” I have heard similar sentiments expressed by those with whom we work in the Mississippi Delta and in California’s San Joaquin Valley.
Looking at the state of our world, I am moved to ask this:
If love truly does make us more intelligent (and we at IISC think and feel that it does), not to mention more safe, secure and satisfied, what will it take to make the work of creating structures that support its flow that much more important?
Image Description: Illustration of thin, flowing blue lines curving across a dark navy background, forming large wave-like patterns. By Andania Humaira via Unsplash.
I recently read a LinkedIn post on the concept of “Trojan mice” that my former IISC colleague Gibran Rivera brought into our midst several years ago. The idea is that small, unassuming experiments can bypass the defenses of rigid systems and create change more effectively than a single large “Trojan Horse.”
This immediately brought to mind the Three Horizons framework, especially what it calls “Horizon 2” (see image below). The core idea of Three Horizons is that systemic change unfolds as dominant systems (Horizon 1) decline and more regenerative alternatives (Horizon 3) take root. Between these sits Horizon 2, which I understand as innovations in the form of relatively small experiments that draw from the spirit of Horizon 3 and can help break the iron hold of Horizon 1.
What’s been helpful about the past few years of unraveling in this country is seeing this dynamic a bit more clearly in many networked collaborative change efforts that we at IISC support. If Horizon 2 is where the future first becomes visible, then our task is to notice, nurture, and connect these experiments. Here are three examples:
Bringing More Good Fire to the Land
For years now, we’ve supported both the Fire Adapted Communities Learning Network and the Indigenous Peoples Burning Network (IPBN) as they have worked to bring “good fire” back to the land. This includes proactive ‘low-intensity’ or ‘prescribed’ burns, known as ‘cultural burns’ in Indigenous contexts, that build resilience in forests and grasslands. You can find more information here about that practice. At a recent IPBN gathering we helped facilitate, great news was shared about how major state funding is now going to tribes in California to establish learning centers focused on prescribed burns as an alternative to the dominant “fire suppression” system (Horizon 1). In other words, the growth of prescribed burns (Horizon 2) is helping regenerative land stewardship (Horizon 3) move toward the mainstream.
Farming Local Solutions to Hunger
Another example comes from northern Michigan, where we support a collaborative network focused on hunger. For about 30 years, the Northwest Food Coalition has worked to ensure that food pantries in the region have enough food for those experiencing food insecurity. This reflects the dominant (Horizon 1) “emergency food” system at work. In recent years, through efforts to ensure that the food provided is not just caloric but also nutritious, a program known as Farm to Neighbor was created to source fresh produce from nearby farms to make available at food pantries. This is a clear Horizon 2 example. It advances a more resilient vision in which local farms help ensure no one goes hungry while supporting growers of non-commodity, more Earth-friendly crops (Horizon 3).
Being the Better World We Want to See
A last example comes from numerous multi-organizational change efforts that we support. In all of these efforts, we encourage the practice of the notion that “how we meet and treat each other” can be a taste of the better future we know we need and want. We are now seeing evidence of overly transactional conversations and relationships (Horizon 1) giving way to more “care and wellbeing-centered” practices (Horizon 2) that can seed new cultures and systems (Horizon 3) where people are not living in poverty, unhoused, neglected, or without the supports they need (and deserve) to contribute fully to community life.
As we continue our work in 2026, I will keep in mind and heart how we can intentionally weave connections across Horizon 2 experiments, so they reinforce one another. When small innovations remain isolated, they can be dismissed. When they are connected, they begin to form patterns, and patterns can become movements.
The invitation, then, is not to wait for Horizon 3 to arrive fully formed. It is to notice where it is already flickering into view through small, innovative experiments. It is to nurture those efforts, connect them, and protect them long enough for their logic to take root.
Systemic change rarely announces itself with a single dramatic shift. More often, it spreads gradually, through relationships, practice, and persistence. The work before us is to tend those second-horizon sparks until they become the future.
Some work is bigger than any one organization. It grows through relationships, shared leadership, and the care of a network. The Food Solutions New England (FSNE) 21-Day Racial Equity Habit Building Challenge has always been that kind of work. Each year, thousands of people step into a shared practice of learning, reflecting, and taking action together.
Beginning this year, Interaction Institute for Social Change (IISC) will serve as the new host of the Challenge, in partnership with the University of Vermont Institute for Agroecology (IFA) and KAS Consulting, led by long-time Challenge co-leader Karen Spiller.
IISC is stepping into this role as a longtime partner, not a new one. We have been connected to the Challenge since it first launched in 2015 through FSNE. That year, IISC’s Curtis Ogden, along with Karen Spiller and Johanna Rosen of Equity Trust, took work that was originally created by Dr. Eddie Moore, Jr. of The Privilege Institute, and Debbie Irving, author of Waking Up White, and developed an online food system-focused version of the 21-Day Racial Equity Habit-Building Challenge. Over the past twelve years, that version has grown into a nationally and internationally recognized learning experience, bringing together thousands of individuals and hundreds of organizations each year.
Evolving Through a Network, Grounded in Continuity
As of July 1, 2025, FSNE transitioned from its longtime institutional home at the University of New Hampshire into a new partnership with the University of Vermont Institute for Agroecology. This transition reflects something that has always been true about this work: that strength lives in the network itself, which is bigger than any single organization or institution. The relationships, commitments, and shared purpose continue even as structures evolve.
Hosting the Challenge here at IISC feels like a natural continuation of that shared stewardship. The collaboration, trust, and values that shaped the Challenge from the start remain at the center of what comes next.
For some, the current political climate has made racial equity work feel more scrutinized, exhausting, or difficult to advance publicly. Many organizations are navigating uncertainty about how to continue this work in increasingly constrained environments, and some may feel cautious about participating in spaces focused on racial equity learning.
At the same time, we are seeing many people lean in more deeply. We are hearing from leaders, organizers, practitioners, and community members who are looking for places to stay grounded, learn in community, and reconnect to why this work matters. The Challenge is designed to hold space for both of these realities. It offers an accessible, reflective, and community-rooted way to continue learning together.
What the Challenge Offers
For 21 days, participants receive daily emails with curated resources, carefully crafted reflection prompts, and invitations to deepen understanding and to engage in concrete practice. Some engage individually, while others participate as teams or organizations. Many return year after year because the Challenge becomes both a learning opportunity and a sustaining practice that deepens their sense of purpose, connection, and possibility.
Now entering its 12th year, the Challenge remains open to anyone looking to strengthen their racial equity practice and work more generally for a just world.
Registration opens March 5, 2026, and the Challenge will run from April 20 through May 10.
While the Challenge has historically been free, registration will now be $21 for 21 days. This small fee helps support the coordination, curation, and stewardship that allow this learning community to continue growing while staying accessible to participants.
The FSNE 21-Day Racial Equity Habit-Building Challenge continues to be shaped by the communities, partners, and participants who have carried it forward since 2015. We feel honored to help steward this next chapter alongside IFA, KAS Consulting, and the broader FSNE network.
The invitation is open to anyone who wants to learn, reflect, and take action in community with others working toward a more equitable and just food system and society. Save the date for March 5 when registration opens here. We hope you’ll join us!
Image Description: Illustration of a silhouetted person sitting inside a dark cave, looking out toward a calm blue ocean and horizon beyond the cave opening. By Beatriz Camaleão.
So many groups, organizations, and networks that we at Interaction Institute for Social Change supported in 2025 struggled with capacity and focus. So much has been coming at all of us that it can feel difficult to do anything more than respond to the momentary needs.
In an effort to help people stay grounded and strategic as they responded to funding cuts, legal challenges, hunger and housing needs, and physical threats, and to rise a bit off the “dance floor” to have a “balcony” perspective, we have found a few things helpful.
This is not an exhaustive list, but it speaks to some of what we are seeing as fundamentals for navigating ahead:
• Continue to create space for grounding and embodied practices to prevent nervous systems from constantly firing.
• Create opportunities for people to share what they are feeling, for real, as a way of moving intense emotion through their bodies so that it is not stuck, looping, and draining them.
• Bring in the so-called “Eisenhower Matrix” to conversations, asking people to consider where “urgency” and “importance” meet, and when they fall into the habit of responding to every little unimportant thing as if it is a crisis. Encourage them to think about doing more in the important and non-urgent quadrant.
• Bring the “Impact Matrix” to conversations, and ask people to consider the correlation between effort and impact. Ideally, we should be conserving as much energy as possible in these times and looking for opportunities where less effort can yield more impact, while ramping down what requires a lot of energy with little to show for it.
• Invite people to find even brief moments for strategic reflection as they navigate various kinds of real crises. An example of this is work I did last year with a regional food security network as it responded to the federal SNAP cuts. As this amazing coalition organized itself in rapid response mode, I provided a shared document that people could access on their laptops and phones with columns for people to note: (1) what they were learning about both needs and opportunities “out there”, (2) what they were experiencing as strengths of their network, and (3) where they were seeing gaps in and needs for strengthening the network.
There is a lot that will continue to ripple through systems as they unravel and as we iterate our way into the better. Along with practices for “transitional hygiene,” staying focused, strategic, and collaborative will be our collective superpower.
What have you found helpful in keeping eyes and efforts on what matters most?
If your organization, network, or partnership is navigating similar terrain and could use support in creating space for reflection, strengthening collaboration, or sharpening strategy, we’re here. Reach out to explore how we might partner with you in this season.
Image Description: An abstract illustration of a teal human silhouette against a dark background filled with flowing pink, orange, and white lines, along with scattered stars and circular shapes. By Gemma Evans via Unsplash.
“Network intelligence is the ability to learn from a diverse group of connections. Wherever you work, look beyond your walls: there are more smart people outside than inside your organization.”
– Reid Hoffman (digital strategist)
2025 has been one for the record books. So many shocks to so many systems, including most nonprofit organizations in this country. Sudden cuts and changes in funding flows, threatening policies, toxic and unstable political leadership, economic uncertainties, culture clashes, literal fires and floods…all resulting in physical and mental health challenges, staffing shortages, and ongoing fatigue teetering towards burnout. We have definitely seen and felt it in our own organization.
In times like these, even finding basic stability can feel unclear. We have written in other posts about the crucial nature of leadership practices that center on care and well-being (see blog here). Those are certainly foundational, and alongside them, we continue to emphasize the importance of leaning into and cultivating strong networks. Networks are a source of resilience, resource-sharing, extended capacity, creativity, and mutual support. They remind us that no one has to navigate uncertainty alone.
What Networks Make Possible When Conditions Are Hard
We know the power of nurturing connections to keep our energy going and flowing. Sometimes that looks like turning to people beyond our organizational walls to be seen and heard, share honestly how we are feeling, and perhaps commiserate. In one place-based network we helped to launch and now co-steward, a community of practice for executive directors has become a crucial space to unburden and not feel so alone.
In another network we have supported on and off for a decade, we have seen how like-minded program directors can mentor one another around practice and innovation. Bringing in perspectives from other organizations and communities can feel like a breath of fresh air – one that can help us see things differently, spark new ideas, and increase energy and enthusiasm.We just recently witnessed this at a national gathering of this network, where a series of “spark talks” about different initiatives happening around the country got people talking excitedly about possibilities, which they carried home with them.
In a multi-state watershed network, we have seen how shared capacity can stabilize the whole ecosystem. Organizations take turns leading based on bandwidth and hand off stewardship when they need a pause. Knowledge-sharing across the network, from grant opportunities to policy updates to new technologies, has become essential for groups trying to stay grounded amid constant change.
We are also seeing more organizations that have needed to shrink explore shared infrastructure with other organizations, from co-locating office space to pooling administrative support. Some ecosystems are even asking a bigger question: What work is each organization best positioned to hold right now? While the losses in these cases are real, there is an upside, as “doing what you do best and connecting to the rest” can support the creation of diverse and interconnected ecosystems, which are inherently more resilient.
Steps Leaders Can Take Now
Whether you are already part of a larger network or starting to build one, nonprofit leaders can begin cultivating the benefits of collective power by:
Keep looking beyond your organizational walls
Map the larger ecosystem of which you are a part
Identify peers and mentors with whom you might connect
Consider where you might let go in the name of doing what you do best
Gauge where you have excess capacity to share with others in your ecosystem, and let them know
Meet with others to discuss where there are collaborative efficiencies to be gained through joint staffing, shared back-office resources, use of technology, and peer-to-peer exchanges
Encourage funders to support convenings/collaborative conversations and invest in stronger ecosystems
In a time when certainty is scarce, networks offer something steadier: collective possibility.
Where might you reach outward, even in a small way, to strengthen the web that can hold you, your team, and your community through what comes next?
Notes from Race Forward’s Just Narratives for Multiracial Solidarity 2025
Image Description: An illustration of a person with brown skin and long dark hair against a yellow background. A cloud-filled sky bursts through the middle of their face as if the space is torn open, revealing blue sky and white swirling clouds bordered by black night sky with stars. By Mariana Cuesta via Unsplash.
Years ago, in my first nonprofit communications role, a colleague asked me why I was shaping my work around what the system allowed (what I thought was “realistic”), instead of imagining a system that actually served us. That question changed everything for me.
At Race Forward’s Just Narratives for Multiracial Solidarity 2025, it felt like the whole convening was grappling with that same tension: What possibilities are we leaving behind because we’ve accepted the limits we were handed? If harmful systems were imagined into existence, what could happen if imagined something better?
Throughout panels, performances, research sessions, and even late-night conversations, imagination wasn’t framed as a soft skill. It was treated as political power, and one we need to take seriously if we want to build something better.
Imagination is the Starting Point
The opening panel reminded us that pointing out what’s broken is only step one. Movements can’t grow without a shared picture of what comes next. Fear can ignite urgency, but it rarely sustains people. It shrinks our sense of who belongs and narrows what feels achievable.
Hope, on the other hand, builds the kind of community that lasts. It expands our sense of belonging, creates room for collaboration, strengthens trust, and helps people stay in the work through long periods of uncertainty. And choosing hope doesn’t mean we just ignore the compounding crises we’re in – it means recognizing that hope requires action, discipline, and a willingness to stick with the work even when progress is slow.
Monica Roa from Puentes put it plainly: “The world is indeed shit, and we can choose to compost it together.” The circumstances are tough, but we are not powerless. And if harmful systems were imagined into existence, then new systems can also be imagined.
Later, a Palestinian dabke performance from Canaan Wellspring reinforced that imagination can also be embodied. Culture, rhythm, and collective movement are forms of political storytelling.
Nikko Viquiera from Race Forward added a grounding point: imagination without action is just delusion. Naming and posting aren’t enough – dreams require steps.
Infrastructure Shapes What Imagination Can Actually Do
Rinku Sen from Narrative Initiative grounded the conversation by discussing infrastructure – not in an abstract policy sense, but in terms of what allows imagination to become reality. We at IISC wrote about the importance of infrastructure a few months ago here. Infrastructure is not only organizations or reports. It’s people’s stories, their capacity, their confidence, their relationships. It’s whether everyday people (not only professionals) have what they need to share narratives that matter.
Jennifer Ng’andu from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation added that infrastructure also includes trust, support for leaders who are under-resourced or targeted, and the relational glue that keeps movements going.
Anna Castro from the Transgender Law Center reminded us that infrastructure isn’t just the bones, it’s the joints. It’s what makes movement possible. And she pointed out that the South has been living with disinvestment long before national headlines caught up. Southern organizers have had to imagine new solutions out of necessity, and there’s a lot to learn from that.
Together, these points made something clear: imagination is powerful, but it needs structure. Without infrastructure, imagination never makes it off the page.
The Hope Gap: When People Support Change but Don’t Believe It’s Possible
One of the clearest connections between imagination and political power came from folks I deeply admire: the BLIS Collective. Their workshop introduced the Hope Gap, the distance between what people support and what they believe is achievable.
Their research shows major gaps in belief:
76% of Black Americans support reparations, but only 21.5% believe it can realistically happen.
80% of Indigenous people support Land Back, but only 19% believe it’s possible.
This pattern extends across many bold policies. People want transformative solutions, but decades of disinvestment, backlash, and political messaging have convinced many that big changes are unrealistic. When people don’t believe change is possible, they disengage or lower their expectations. The Hope Gap isn’t just a barrier to action, but a crisis in political imagination.
The BLIS research is ongoing, so instead of presenting final answers, their workshop taught us how to identify Hope Gaps in our own issue areas. We worked collectively to explore narratives that invite participation rather than resignation.
My biggest takeaway was this: we don’t have to start from scratch. We can learn from what already exists. We can amplify the wins, from reparations efforts to LandBack victories, so they feel possible, repeatable, and real. When we lift up these examples, we normalize the idea that what we imagine together can take root.
Imagination Grows Through Community
Outside the formal sessions, the theme of imagination showed up again in the way people gathered. I spent time tending to old and new relationships, eating and dancing together, laughing through a spontaneous mini-makeover session. At one point, nearly everyone said some version of, “This is why we come.”
These moments truly were the heart of the gathering. They confirmed that narrative work, hope-building, and movement strategy grow through connection, the kind you build by showing up, sharing space, and remembering that people are the reason this work moves at all.
ALOK’s Call to Choose Humanity Over Convention
ALOK Vaid-Menon’s brilliant keynote tied the theme together. They asked why our sector continues to choose convention over humanity. They reminded the audience that our values come from the people who have held and supported us through our lives.
Their central point was that all justice work is connected. Trans justice, racial justice, climate justice, gender justice, disability justice – these are not separate fights. When we act like they are, we weaken all of them. And there are systems intentionally built to keep them separate.
ALOK also named the funder-industrial complex’s role in encouraging fragmentation, but insisted that collaboration is where our movements gain power. We shouldn’t need to justify why justice movements are linked. We should care because people matter.
What I’m Taking With Me
Imagination is political power
Action gives imagination meaning
Infrastructure makes imagination possible
Relationships make imagination sustainable
Hope must be intentionally built, protected, and nurtured
It is not enough to critique the systems we live in. Just like we need better messaging, we also need better imagination to actively build alternatives. And we need the conditions that allow people to believe in what they already want for the world. If fear built the systems we’re fighting, imagination can replace them.
Take a moment to ask yourself and your team:
What possibilities have we dismissed because we assumed they weren’t realistic?
Start naming them, imagining them, and then start building the infrastructure that makes them real.
A Quick Recap of Our LinkedIn Live with Amy Casso & Miriam Messinger
When everything around us feels unstable, “planning” can feel like an impossible task. Budgets fluctuate, uncertainty grows, and teams are stretched thin. During our recent LinkedIn Live, IISC Senior Associate Amy Casso and Director of Practice Miriam Messinger offered a refreshing alternative: Strategic Direction Setting – a more adaptive, human, and justice-centered way to move through complexity.
Rather than forcing organizations into rigid plans that rarely survive contact with reality, Amy and Miriam explored how teams can stay grounded in purpose while navigating uncertainty with clarity and care. They shared insights from the field about burnout, pressure, and the limitations of traditional planning, along with practical ways leaders can build resilience without compromising their values.
The conversation was lively, honest, and rich in insight, from reconnecting to your North Star, to planning for multiple futures, to designing a strategy that centers equity and strengthens collective capacity.
If your organization is seeking a way to think strategically without needing all the answers up front, this 45-minute conversation offers both grounding and inspiration. Watch the recording above or on YouTube here.
Ready to Move from Chaos to Clarity?
If your team or organization is navigating complexity, burnout, or uncertainty and still dreaming of impact, justice, and transformation, we’d love to connect!
Reach out to explore how we can support your team through Strategic Direction Setting. We’ll help you align around what matters most, build courageous collaboration, and chart a course grounded in shared power, visionary leadership, and real-time responsiveness.
Make Change Stick Beyond the MeetingTurn ideas into agreements that stick, and keep change going after the meeting ends. Perfect for teams stuck in “great conversation, little action.”
