Working toward social change that creates better tomorrows for us all can be challenging, risky, and costly. That doesn’t necessarily mean we are doing it wrong. Frances Kendall, a white anti-racist activist and educator, reminds us that being an ally doesn’t come without costs – it is about being willing to step in front of the train so the person who experiences oppression doesn’t have to get hit one more time. Leading through collective action can reduce the risks and increase the effectiveness of efforts to create social change.
The Power and Limits of Individual Action
Leaders speaking out play an important role and can make meaningful changes. However, they can also be easily dismissed and/or targeted for retaliation. The scope and impact of individual action may be limited. Leaders in positions of power have a unique opportunity to use their platform for social change. But they must also be mindful of the risks they may place on those they serve.
Leaders may also find themselves undermining their own agency as they await or demand that others speak up. We tend to mythologize and lionize heroic individual actions. While honoring these contributions is important, it can leave us waiting for the next superhero to emerge rather than seeing the difference we can make and organizing with others to create better tomorrows.
The Power of Collective Action
Leading social movements for collective action can be powerful. Collective movements that bring together many voices can increase effectiveness and disperse the risk of direct retaliation. Leaders who bring together coalitions across differences can also undermine narratives that only a few benefit at the cost of the many to illustrate how positive social change benefits all of us. Many voices and perspectives can be challenging to organize, but collective action can increase clarity, solutions, and effectiveness. Collective action can also expand and deepen the potential impact.
Collective action can be organized in communities by bringing together groups of individuals. At an organizational or larger community level, we can work to bring together different constituencies, groups, institutions, and organizations with divergent and related concerns to speak collectively. At the societal level, we can bring coalitions of large organizations together for a unified voice, collective resources, and large-scale strategic initiatives.
Evolve Your Leadership Voice
We need leaders who can lead through both individual and collective action. Are you ready to improve your capacity, courage, and effectiveness, leading to better tomorrows for us all? Evolve helps senior leaders release fear, gain courage, and take transformative action. If you are a senior leader ready to invest in your ability to lead, here are three steps you can take:
- Read more about Evolve from our website or our Overview.
- Watch our Discover Evolve video.
- Register for our next free Evolve webinar – The Leadership Superpower of Slowing Down: TODAY, April 1 at 3pm ET
- Schedule a call to talk more about if Evolve is right for you.
- Join our next Evolve cohort (launching June 2).
We have another free Evolve webinar on Tuesday, April 29, at 2 p.m. ET, focused on Leading with Cultural Intelligence (CQ) with guest Dr. Rahn Franklin, a fellow at the Cultural Intelligence Center. We’re adding a CQ 360 to Evolve. If you would like to join us or get the recording, you can register here.
