How Change Takes a Community
I just watched an inspiring video that reminds me of what I know deep inside, that social change is a team effort. The old adage says that “change comes from within.” When the change is a societal transformation, this is a golden insight that captures something truly profound:
A society changes from within - through a growing movement of its own citizens to form a society-wide intentional community.
Barack Obama’s conversation with his campaign staff presents this simple fact in a powerful way. Check it out. It’s well worth taking 13 minutes and pondering the reality behind-the-scenes for what is the biggest grassroots movement of our generation.
My wife, Jessica, has been closely involved with the Obama campaign since its humble beginnings, so I have personal experience with this phenomenon. It started with a riveting speech and the launch of a new kind of website. The website was built on social networking software that allows people to sign up, type in their zip code, and find a local group in their neighborhood to meet up with. If no such group exists, you are invited to start your own.
Jessica’s first experience with the campaign was a house party in Oakland. I was there too. It was a vibrant group of people (~15 of us) all huddled into a future friend’s living room. There were warm smiles all around and personal stories - most starting with some variation on “I’ve never done anything in politics before!”
The success of Obama’s campaign has not been his intelligence or eloquence (extraordinary though they are). It has been a powerful community comprised of millions of everyday people across the country who have gathered together in their own towns.
It is this community that brings political transformation. Only when the community speaks will real leadership emerge - breaking the mold of thought that claims a leader to be pulling the people along. The truth is far more nuanced and interesting. Real leadership is the act of exemplifying the aspirations and concerns of the people and providing a beacon for the community to lift up and shine back on itself.
Real progress - real change - takes a community. So much for the myth of the lone hero who saves the inept community. That tired tale is finally being laid to rest.
- Joe
I watched that video the other day - and I was so impressed by the way he talked to his staff.
Iguess I get impatient with people who keep complaining that Obama ‘doesn’t have specifics’ or ‘doesn’t have 47 10-point plans’ on how to deal with this or that issue. I understand that he doesn’t need to - because as he states so well, WE must figure out what problem we want to solve, and then figure out how to do it.
I guess it’s hard for people who are used to the top-down prescription model to understand that this time it will be a bottom-up model.
Those kind alwasy work much better anyway (spoken as a former community activist/organizer)
Thanks for the great post.