Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds

by Adrienne Maree Brown

“Fear and craving and hatred and clinging are deep emotional protections against the unknown that enabled us to survive over millions of years of evolution, and while we need to see how they hold us back, and learn how to overcome them—individually and collectively—we shouldn’t pathologize them. We actually need to respect them.”

Do you know how powerful, how beautiful, how creative you are? Before the world beats no into your brow. Before heartbreak can be spotted in your eyes. Before your lips learn protection as a first language. Your creation was majestic. Your being enough. Do you know how enough you all are?

Why are we meeting? What can this group uniquely accomplish? There are always a ton of relevant conversations that could happen, but there is usually a very small set of conversations that a particular group, at a particular moment in history, can have and move forward, given their capacity, resources, time, focus, and beliefs.

The organizers should have this question at the center of their planning for the event. I also find that it helps to survey the group of invitees to sharpen the goals, the desires people have for their time. The goals should be transparent, on the wall, in the room, referred to before closing the meeting. The goals are the north star and the way to assess satisfaction.

The questions to ask when shaping the invitation list are: “Who is directly impacted by this issue?”; “Who is doing compelling work on this issue?”; and “Who can move this work forward?”

Now, right people doesn’t mean easy people—conflict and difference are often an important part of advancing the work, bringing the real issues into the room. Trust is built when the right people are in the right room, and can bring their opinions and work into a container that advances their individual and collective goals.

When trying to determine which articulation to prioritize, go with that of the most impacted people in the room—it is usually the most relevant, and often the clearest and most accessible.

Develop a spacious, adaptable agenda so the participants can shape the meeting.

Most conversations need at least 1.5 hours to adequately cover a basic orientation around the content, identify what is needed, and identify clear next steps. And that’s conservative. Add an introduction round and you have a two- to three-hour conversation.

Collaboration can only be built on relationships and shared vision. Relationships have to be respectful (“Oh, I totally see why you are here and why I would want to work with you”) and real (“What you just said offended/disrespected me, and I can tell you about it because I want us to grow!”). And shared vision doesn’t mean a ten-point shared utopia—it means you can generally state that you are moving in the same direction.

There is a conversation in the room that wants and needs to be had. Don’t force it, don’t deny it. Let it come forth.

Good ideas become great movement growth strategies with the touch of passionate hands and work. Ideas that emerge from obligation tend to go stagnate waiting for water.

Stay Human, Stay Grounded: Our own liberation is bound to the liberation of Black people. We will stay emotionally connected to the gravity of the war on Black people.

Reflection ←→ Action cycle: We will constantly evaluate and learn from our mistakes and strengths, and share learning with others.

Move Boldly and Swiftly: Take Risks, Make Mistakes, Share Lessons

We submit these principles and protocols with humility and openness. We don’t have it all figured out, but we are committed to taking a stand, and learning as we go. We will not wait to be perfect, because we believe the time is now and we would rather be held accountable for our mistakes than forgiven our inaction.

“One time I went walking among the Redwoods in this park. There was all of this information about how the trees take care of themselves. You could see how every species living in the area was related to and reliant on each other. The whole place was full of triumphs, sacrifices. Full of beauty accumulated over centuries, and the remains of unexpected disasters. A true collaboration of all the elements that all living things need to sustain life on this planet. So many living things thriving and so many dead things being absorbed back into the earth. That is a powerful system, older than anything I know. It has to be saved from poachers or it wouldn’t exist in these times. I learned to try to organize in collaboration with what is around me and to try to leave something useful for those yet to come. I have to live, organize, work with a consciousness to the environment around me that sustains life.” —Toshi Reagon

Loretta Ross teaches us that, “When people think the same idea and move in the same direction, that’s a cult. When people think many different ideas and move in one direction, that’s a movement.”

The more people who grow understanding and vision together, the more people who will feel at home in the resulting experiments. Right now we are living inside the results of other peoples’ imaginations—people who couldn’t imagine Black people being free, fat girls being sexy, disabled people being leaders. People who could only imagine their own power and dominance. When more people imagine together, and then step from imagining into thinking through the structures and protocols of a society together, then more needs are attended to. Responding to common text is a great way to do this. And it doesn’t have to be just a reading group—it can be a group that watches films, listens to music, or compares experiments in changing movement practices.

“How people are in the relationship is how they will be in the break-up.”

Don’t make assumptions. Don’t take things personally. Be impeccable with your word. Always do your best.

I know there is this idea that we grow less radical as we age, and that relinquishing radical positions is a way this manifests. This keeps people from allowing themselves to be open to their own new emotions, their new understandings. I think the truth is that, as we age, we realize the world is more complex, and we allow ourselves to get woven into that complexity. I am more radical now than I was ten years ago, although it may not look like it. I am more radical in my body, I am more radical in my clarity about the apocalyptic future and my belief that connection to each other is the most important thing to cultivate in the face of hopelessness—we don’t want to cling to outdated paradigms; we want to cling to each other and shift the paradigms.

Practice saying “yes” to the ideas that come from others, growing the idea with yes after yes. When you are tempted to say “no,”a try asking “how?” instead. Often a “no” is a way of expressing a fear or worry that something can’t work. “How?” is a collaborative question, inviting the creation process to keep going, to come up with a way for the idea to grow to the next stage.