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Worldchanging 101 Challenging the Myth of Powerlessness
Why is it that while most of us can identify and explain problems challenging our communities, nations, and world, we so rarely act to address those problems? What keeps us paralyzed?
David LaMotte suggests that the stories we tell ourselves and each other about how the world works are a big part of the answer. Stories matter. They guide our actions more powerfully than data because they place boundaries around what we believe to be possible. Unfortunately, some of our common stories are simply not true.
Worldchanging 101 examines how large-scale change happens and how it doesn t, and explores our possible roles within that change. By breaking large transformations into more manageable components, LaMotte demystifies positive change-making, then guides us through questions to reveal specific pathways toward real and sustainable engagement with problems that concern us.
In Worldchanging 101, we re-think the importance of heroes and everyday people, including ourselves.
David LaMotte suggests that the stories we tell ourselves and each other about how the world works are a big part of the answer. Stories matter. They guide our actions more powerfully than data because they place boundaries around what we believe to be possible. Unfortunately, some of our common stories are simply not true.
Worldchanging 101 examines how large-scale change happens and how it doesn t, and explores our possible roles within that change. By breaking large transformations into more manageable components, LaMotte demystifies positive change-making, then guides us through questions to reveal specific pathways toward real and sustainable engagement with problems that concern us.
In Worldchanging 101, we re-think the importance of heroes and everyday people, including ourselves.
- GenresNonfiction
240 pages, Paperback
First published October 12, 2014
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62 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
February 26, 2023
"Worldchanging 101: Challenging the Myth of Powerlessness," I first read 9 years ago and i came across it and read it again. It is as good as I remembered, and I recommend it to you. LaMotte is a professional musician and songwriter by trade, come activist now, and his workshops on social activism have a clarity, practicality and accessability rarely found. He has an international presence now, and this book makes easy the transition in thinking and practice to lead a life of an activist in an attainable way. He trains folks in the difference between anger and hatred, shows how activism requires movement, how Hope is not the same as Belief but rather orientation to spiritual choices, and offers clear and easy way to begin. He it, to me, a charming friend and ally over these years. That aside, this book gives clear ways into a more meaningful life of hope and justice. Worth tracking it down!
January 25, 2015
Very thought provoking. Can't wait to hear him speak next week.
June 7, 2025
As a veteran of community organizing, I didn't find this book eye-opening. I'm grateful, however, that it exists. People need to read more books like this. I gave it to my selfish teen to read. While it didn't make her want to go out and improve the world, it definitely impacted her self-view. I'm only just realizing it, which is why I'm writing this review 2 years after I told her to read it.
This teen is now 15 years old. At age 12, she began to be rather self-deprecating and had a hard time liking people. We were discussing ideas about growth mindset and such, because she was very rigid in her thinking. Extremism was her standard. Things were either AMAZING or HORRIBLE. She liked few people, because most didn't share her perspectives or likes. She hated MANY people, though. Practically everyone she met. The intensity of her personality wasn't new to me, but it was overwhelming because she wanted me to make up for what she felt she was missing in life. She resisted every helpful thing I tried, including therapy.
I won't say she changed overnight. I had to pester her about reading this book. I would ask her questions about what she'd read. My thought process was that if I could just get her to stop obsessing over herself and her entitlements, she might open herself up to a happier disposition.
Eventually, I didn't have to pester her to read the book. She loves thinking about justice and the book is replete with the topic. She admires Rosa Parks, and the bits about her story helped, as well.
A few weeks ago, we were talking about Gen Z, as one does, as she said that a lot of kids like her have one thing to do: just decide. She shared that her life changed a couple of years ago when she realized she didn't have to stay confused about how to be, how to show up in life, how to belong. She simply had to make a choice. That was the power of being human.
I just stared at her. I was honestly taken aback. She sounded so mature in that moment, so I asked her to tell me more. She said that her life had become better when she'd made the decision to simply choose who she would be and how she'd show up in life, rather than trying to figure out what her body was telling her or what other people wanted from her.
That was her claiming her power. And I'm not sure she would have gotten that framework so strongly if I'd not had her read this book. She was born into activism... and hated it. She resented all the community meetings and the focus being on something she couldn't understand. As she got older, that concerned me. She was so self-involved! But she cared about justice. She was incensed by injustice. So, I had her read this book. It was part of her homeschooling curriculum. Civics. Ethics. These are things we teach at young ages.
My kid, as she's wont to do, took the ideas in this book and made them solely about her. And I think that is a good thing! Not all of us are meant to concern ourselves with the world. I was a very militant teen. I hated apartheid by the time I was 12 years old... and was vocal about it. I'm concerned with the world and this daughter rarely felt like I "get" her. She thinks I was a goody-two-shoes kid who become a goody-two-shoes adult. And, she didn't know how to stop comparing herself to me and others (and feeling like she was falling short) until reading this book. This book helped her figure out how to find your own path and walk it.
When I look through the book, now, I see all the amazing self-help ideas in it. But, I didn't think of it that way when I handed it to my kid two years ago. I wanted her to find out how to be of greater help in our world... and she did. But, not in the way I expected. The best way to be of help in this world is to figure out who you are and be the best version of that. She figured that out from this book. And she's navigated it well since then.
I really can't ascribe the shift I saw in her to anything else, because I actually kind of gave up on reaching her after this book. I put her back in public school the next school year, an environment she'd always suffered in for a variety of reasons, and I watched her shift before my eyes. She was more resilient, less hostile but more likely to hold others accountable. And I think a large part has to do with the fact that she had challenged her own "myth of powerlessness".
Maybe this could help other parents struggling with their teen's angst and lack of belonging, as well. I've always felt we have to try everything to reach our kids and help them figure themselves out.
This teen is now 15 years old. At age 12, she began to be rather self-deprecating and had a hard time liking people. We were discussing ideas about growth mindset and such, because she was very rigid in her thinking. Extremism was her standard. Things were either AMAZING or HORRIBLE. She liked few people, because most didn't share her perspectives or likes. She hated MANY people, though. Practically everyone she met. The intensity of her personality wasn't new to me, but it was overwhelming because she wanted me to make up for what she felt she was missing in life. She resisted every helpful thing I tried, including therapy.
I won't say she changed overnight. I had to pester her about reading this book. I would ask her questions about what she'd read. My thought process was that if I could just get her to stop obsessing over herself and her entitlements, she might open herself up to a happier disposition.
Eventually, I didn't have to pester her to read the book. She loves thinking about justice and the book is replete with the topic. She admires Rosa Parks, and the bits about her story helped, as well.
A few weeks ago, we were talking about Gen Z, as one does, as she said that a lot of kids like her have one thing to do: just decide. She shared that her life changed a couple of years ago when she realized she didn't have to stay confused about how to be, how to show up in life, how to belong. She simply had to make a choice. That was the power of being human.
I just stared at her. I was honestly taken aback. She sounded so mature in that moment, so I asked her to tell me more. She said that her life had become better when she'd made the decision to simply choose who she would be and how she'd show up in life, rather than trying to figure out what her body was telling her or what other people wanted from her.
That was her claiming her power. And I'm not sure she would have gotten that framework so strongly if I'd not had her read this book. She was born into activism... and hated it. She resented all the community meetings and the focus being on something she couldn't understand. As she got older, that concerned me. She was so self-involved! But she cared about justice. She was incensed by injustice. So, I had her read this book. It was part of her homeschooling curriculum. Civics. Ethics. These are things we teach at young ages.
My kid, as she's wont to do, took the ideas in this book and made them solely about her. And I think that is a good thing! Not all of us are meant to concern ourselves with the world. I was a very militant teen. I hated apartheid by the time I was 12 years old... and was vocal about it. I'm concerned with the world and this daughter rarely felt like I "get" her. She thinks I was a goody-two-shoes kid who become a goody-two-shoes adult. And, she didn't know how to stop comparing herself to me and others (and feeling like she was falling short) until reading this book. This book helped her figure out how to find your own path and walk it.
When I look through the book, now, I see all the amazing self-help ideas in it. But, I didn't think of it that way when I handed it to my kid two years ago. I wanted her to find out how to be of greater help in our world... and she did. But, not in the way I expected. The best way to be of help in this world is to figure out who you are and be the best version of that. She figured that out from this book. And she's navigated it well since then.
I really can't ascribe the shift I saw in her to anything else, because I actually kind of gave up on reaching her after this book. I put her back in public school the next school year, an environment she'd always suffered in for a variety of reasons, and I watched her shift before my eyes. She was more resilient, less hostile but more likely to hold others accountable. And I think a large part has to do with the fact that she had challenged her own "myth of powerlessness".
Maybe this could help other parents struggling with their teen's angst and lack of belonging, as well. I've always felt we have to try everything to reach our kids and help them figure themselves out.
February 3, 2019
Here is a great summary of the book by the author: ..."big changes are made up of small ones, normal people change things, not heroes, effective activism can take many forms (including not-s0-radical ones), real change is made by imperfect people, hope and love are choices rather than circumstances, worldchanging requires creativity, (and there are often more options than the options we see), our own gifts may have as much to do with our callings as the condition of the world around us, we have many callings, not just one big one..." There are many nuggets of wisdom in this book.
May 5, 2018
This is an excellent book about how we can make a difference in the world, even if we aren't prone to great acts of heroism!! In fact, LaMotte argues that it really isn't acts of heroism that change the world, but all the "behind the scenes" work that makes it possible for heroes to act. I especially like the exercise at the end of the book for exploring our present calling. This would make a great study guide for a group or class.
June 30, 2020
LaMotte helps us see that changing the world is doable. Often, our world expects and highlights large acts of heroism instead of the many smaller actions that it took to get there. This book inspires action on issues that you care about. Definitely worth a read.
April 12, 2017
Worth your time. David writes well, challenges with grace and gives space for ruminating
January 22, 2018
David LaMotte. Worldchanging 101: Challenging the Myth of Powerlessness. Montreat: Dryad Publishing, Inc., 2014. 227 pages, plus Endnotes.
I have had this book for a few years I reckon—probably since it was published in 2014. I knew the author first as a singer/songwriter. I knew that he had grown up Presbyterian, that as an adult he had some experience with the Quaker community, and that well into adulthood he had laid aside his successful, 25-year music career to accept a scholarship and go off to Australia to pursue a masters in International Studies, Peace and Conflict Resolution as a Rotary World Peace Fellow. I respected and admired what he had been doing with his life. He is a thoughtful and loving person. That he would actively involve himself in peacemaking would come as no surprise.
After the presidential election of 2016, I was among many who wondered what our world was coming to. I was alarmed about the mood, attitude, and direction of our nation, and I wondered what I could realistically and constructively do to participate and contribute. It seemed overwhelming. Suddenly, there was a plethora of publications to choose from—everything from internet blogs to op-ed pieces to books hot off the press. I started with Jim Wallis’s latest book, America’s Original Sin (see my review on goodreads.com), and then I remembered this book and even remembered approximately where it was sitting on my shelf. I figured it was a good time to read it.
I have found David’s book very helpful and rather encouraging. The book is organized into sections: The Language of Change, Narratives of Change, and What Is Yours To Do? And I quote from the final section, Pick One:
“Having established that big changes are made up of small ones, that normal people change things, not heroes, that effective activism can take many forms (including not-so-radical ones), that real change is made by imperfect people, that hope and love are choices rather than circumstances, that worldchanging requires creativity, (and there are often more options that the options we can see), that our own gifts may have as much to do with our callings as the condition of the world around us, that we may have many callings, not just one big one…having established all that, there’s one more question to ask. What will you do about it?” p.211
It left me at a pretty good place.
I have had this book for a few years I reckon—probably since it was published in 2014. I knew the author first as a singer/songwriter. I knew that he had grown up Presbyterian, that as an adult he had some experience with the Quaker community, and that well into adulthood he had laid aside his successful, 25-year music career to accept a scholarship and go off to Australia to pursue a masters in International Studies, Peace and Conflict Resolution as a Rotary World Peace Fellow. I respected and admired what he had been doing with his life. He is a thoughtful and loving person. That he would actively involve himself in peacemaking would come as no surprise.
After the presidential election of 2016, I was among many who wondered what our world was coming to. I was alarmed about the mood, attitude, and direction of our nation, and I wondered what I could realistically and constructively do to participate and contribute. It seemed overwhelming. Suddenly, there was a plethora of publications to choose from—everything from internet blogs to op-ed pieces to books hot off the press. I started with Jim Wallis’s latest book, America’s Original Sin (see my review on goodreads.com), and then I remembered this book and even remembered approximately where it was sitting on my shelf. I figured it was a good time to read it.
I have found David’s book very helpful and rather encouraging. The book is organized into sections: The Language of Change, Narratives of Change, and What Is Yours To Do? And I quote from the final section, Pick One:
“Having established that big changes are made up of small ones, that normal people change things, not heroes, that effective activism can take many forms (including not-so-radical ones), that real change is made by imperfect people, that hope and love are choices rather than circumstances, that worldchanging requires creativity, (and there are often more options that the options we can see), that our own gifts may have as much to do with our callings as the condition of the world around us, that we may have many callings, not just one big one…having established all that, there’s one more question to ask. What will you do about it?” p.211
It left me at a pretty good place.
October 18, 2016
Once they achieve a certain level of comfort and security, many people begin to look beyond their own needs and wonder if perhaps there are things that can be done to help others. In Worldchanging 101: Challenging the Myth of Powerlessness David LaMotte offers some practical suggestions about things people can do to make their world a better place. The book is actually more philosophical than practical. Figuring out what to do is easy. There are hundreds of ways to get started. LaMotte, however, sees the biggest problem as inertia. Most people go through life feeling powerless. These are the ones who don’t vote because they feel that their vote isn’t important enough. They don’t pick up litter because they can’t clean it all up in one session. They don’t speak out against violence and incivility because they don’t think their actions will make much of an impact. LaMotte sees powerlessness as a myth and downplays the emphasis often placed on “heroes.” Change does not have to be measured in large increments. One does not have to be Mother Teresa or Nelson Mandela Real heroes are most often quiet and unnoticed. Real leadership doesn’t necessarily come from the person in front of the camera or out in front of the pack but rather comes from the power of setting a good example. Once convinced that the little things matter and can make a difference, LaMotte asks a series of questions to help guide people to the action that fits. What’s bugging you? What’s most important? What is yours to do? What can you bring that not everyone can bring? Where can you find a community of people who are also concerned about the thing you care about? So get up off your butt. Wean yourself off your screen time. Read the book (or not). Be creative. Take some small steps to do the best you can with what you’ve got. Brighten the corner where you are. When you do the little things to make the world a little better, you’ll find that at the same time you’ve made yourself a little better.
March 11, 2015
This is an incredible read. Much like having a conversation with a friend or mentor, Worldchanging 101 is conversational, narrative and truly inspiring. It would be a great tool for young adults trying to discern ways to make a difference while feeling overwhelmed by the manifold problems in the world. I cannot recommend this book enough - especially for those who are passionate to make change and feel adrift at how best to do so.
August 1, 2016
Excellent book to encourage yourselves and others that every little bit we do for social justice is important.
November 8, 2016
loved this book it helped me begin my life as a retired person
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews