Over the years, I have signed up for the mailing lists of several organizations doing great work. I regularly receive thought-provoking and inspiring articles in my inbox.
A few weeks ago, I received three emails highlighting three very different articles
Now, if you’ve been here long, you know I have a bit of an ongoing internal struggle with the tension between trying to engage decision makers in meaningful discussion and marching in the streets as changemaking strategies. Not that either are good or bad, right or wrong, effective or ineffective, but more a question of which style is more good/right/effective for me? If systems change requires the full spectrum from delegating at city hall to chaining ourselves to trees, where do I fit? What is my role and where do I bring the most value? A small, committed group changes the world, yes, but what is the group DOING, Margaret Meed??
0 Comments
Sometimes I compartmentalize my work. Over here, I’m working on a report. Over here, I’m planning a meeting. Over here, I’m writing a book.
And then an opportunity presents itself out of the blue, and I look at it and think, I cannot add another separate thing. My brain is compartmentalized to the max. This happened ten years ago when the Action Hepatitis Canada role was offered to me. At the time I already had 4 jobs and so even though I was interested, I thought, what am I doing with my life? I can’t take a 5th job. I’ll look like I don’t know what I want to be when I grow up. But a friend helped me see the throughline of advocacy across all of my contracts: 5 expressions of the same thing. MY thing. Once my 5 roles felt cohesive, the compartmentalization fell away, and I felt really good about my work. I've been at a conference for most of the week, and I need to unplug for a bit, so today's post will be a short one, with three quick resources I'm really finding useful and inspiring lately.
We survived January! It’s always a long month for me and this one was no exception. And though the days were gray and the nights were long, I love having things to look forward to and some lovely invitations from others and plan-hatching of my own are getting me through. That, and giving in to the season and curling up with good books in my PJs shortly after dinner.
One of the books I’ve finally been tackling is Case Made! By Dr. Tiffany Manuel. Tiffany lays out ten principles for making a strong case for the changes we want to make. One of them was new to me, based on a technique called anchoring, so I wanted to share that with you today. Happy New Year! Today, I am celebrating my 43rd birthday and the 3-year anniversary of Disrupt For Good. It all began with my New Year’s Revolution/40th Birthday Manifesto. And as I think about shifts, it’s interesting to notice the shifts I’ve made myself in three years.
In 2023, we explored a range of topics here, starting with a good old-fashioned rant about women’s rage, then moving to influence and word choice, raising disruptive kids, and even the value of staying curious, before sharing this fall my initial thoughts on some important shifts for those of us in the social service sector. Whether you’ve been here since day one or you’re new, thanks for joining in the conversation about how to disrupt the social services sector for good and intentionally centre our work in justice approaches. I want to share just a few thoughts as we all transition from 2023 to 2024. It has been a very full month. I started November in Ottawa with my rare blood disorder group, hosting meetings including a two-hour roundtable discussion with patients, policymakers, physicians, and pharma reps, where we talked about the best path forward for timely and equitable access to new therapies coming to market. It also included a really hard conversation about historical and ongoing anti-Back racism in blood donation and the outsized impact that is having on the Sickle Cell community.
Often when I sit down to write here, it is to share my favourite takeaways from a book I have just read. But sometimes, I write to share something that a friend of mine generously calls my “thought scholarship,” aka my own hot takes on what’s going on, or synthesizing and making connections between a few ideas that I’ve read or heard recently.
This month it’s the second kind. It’s NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). I’m not writing a novel, but I am writing a book. So today, I’m sharing a little bit about what I’m writing, what’s shaping it, and why I think it matters. The core of the book is a number of shifts I think we need to make and how to get started - I’ve shared many of them here over the last few years: As a devout housing advocate, I’ve used the term housing crisis many times in the last several years. But in The Tenant Class, author Ricardo Tranjan makes a compelling case that the housing crisis…is a myth.
The beginning of September feels like a fresh start, and I often find myself a little restless around this time of year. After some relaxation and a softer summer schedule, I’m ready for a new challenge to go with my new notebooks and pencils.
This isn’t everyone’s rhythm; even if it was three years ago, it might not be now. Especially in the social service sector, some of the colleagues I most admire are tired, treading water and certainly not feeling like they have the energy for new endeavours. And yet. There is so much to do. I don’t mean our to-do lists, although those are almost certainly too long. I’m referring to more existential things like our roles in dismantling oppressive systems. And I submit for your consideration the possibility that coming together in community for a common goal may provide just the restorative boost you need. It’s not another thing to do, it could be the energy source to power you through your to-dos. So! Whether you are looking for validation or inspiration for your next right thing, I’m sharing two excerpts from Seth Godin, perhaps not obviously related but both rolling around in my brain right now, and a consideration related to success anxiety, a term I just learned. For this month's post, I'm sharing an article I wrote recently for Charity Village on leading with curiosity in our advocacy.
“Curiosity is the pre-requisite to change,” writes journalist and author Amanda Ripley. Coming to a conversation ready to listen and to hear the perspectives of others while holding our assumptions loosely is a proven way to have positive conversations that generate more creative outcomes and leave all parties feeling heard and respected. And while it isn’t always my first instinct in my advocacy work, when I lead with curiosity, I’m consistently pleased with both the outcomes and the process of how we got there. The benefits of staying curious have come up in my reading a lot lately, so I’m sharing my three favourite reasons here. Read Three Reasons to Lead with Curiosity in Our Advocacy on CharityVillage.com |
AuthorI'm Jennifer. I am an advocacy and communications strategist working with multiple charities and nonprofits. And I want to disrupt our sector for good. Archives
April 2024
Categories |