I’m reading the book Emergent Strategy by the ever wonderful adrienne maree brown. The main thing I love about her writing is how human she is. She’s been organising and leading change for decades and still I can connect with her pettiness!
It’s part exploration of new yet ancient ideas, part manifesto, part instruction manual.
adrienne maree brown is a queer, disabled, Black woman living in the United States. A life in community activism has shaped her work. The book is a longing for the social justice movements she wants. Everyone that has ever stepped into a future that they can’t yet see is writing science fiction. And ultimately, as she says in the conclusion (spoiler alert!) this is a book about love.
For the change agent / activist embedded in an organisation, community or even family, this book provides inspiration for the way we can work together and a blueprint for how we might get there. I am particularly struck by the curiosity and compassion that is foundational to any work.
The idea of working with what the people bring to the room is how I’ve always wanted to work but somehow have always had to fill someone else’s needs or expectation and bring the content myself. Trust in the people and have a shared vision. And be open to the vision shifting
*Not an affiliate link because I haven’t worked out how to do that yet