Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds (Emergent Strategy, 0)

Aaah so good. She is the voice we need for the future we want.adrienne maree brown’s Emergent Strategy is the best book I’ve read since bell hooks’ Will to Change. I’m not sure what it says about me – a straight white man – that the writings that I find most personally and deeply relevant are authored by black gay or bisexual women… but there you have it.It’s an absolute masterpiece: deeply thoughtful, beautifully self-aware, tender and assertive, confident and curious. It’s not for everyone: one of the things I love about Goodreads is a book can wait contentedly in my “to-read” shelf until the time is right. For me, that time is right now.I picked the book up four weeks ago, and carried it with me to and from work and various events without opening it. Last week I finally broke ground, and was immediately captivated: yes. This woman is speaking to me. Then I had a challenging and productive conversation with a thought partner, a woman of color. She pushed me and my thinking, in ways that I found provocative, frustrating, and very much consonant with the concepts I was encountering – or better, recognizing as my own inchoate yearnings – in brown’s’ writing. So I returned to it, finishing the book on consecutive flights. And it really is one of those books that I already know will stay with me for the rest of my life.Reading it transported me back to one of my favorite classes from undergrad, a comparative literature course on Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man. We read Invisible Man in dialogue with the many referents Ellison was engaging: each week a new book (Joyce’s Portrait of the Artist, Koestler’s Darkness at Noon, etc). Each week brought new and deeper insights, a greater appreciation for what Ellison was trying to say.Emergent Strategy does the same thing: brown brilliantly introduces us to her own literary antecedents (Octavia Butler chief among them) and also brings us into dialogue with the other influences on her life. Mentors like the inimitable Grace Lee Boggs, but also fellow “woes”: friends and colleagues with whom she is together “Working On Excellence”).Throughout she challenges dominant paradigms, gently peeling back the assumptions that underpin them to reveal what we have known intuitively all along: the Emperor wears no clothes. She does so not to tear down the old, but to transcend it. I’m reminded her of Ken Wilber’s conception that all creation – all leaps of evolution – “transcend and include” those that came before. One of my favorite essays of all time makes this point brilliantly in the context of a liberal arts education, noting that the notion of “creation” and “innovation” (which we tend to erroneously conceive as an exercise in inventing from nothing) is better understood as a process of synthesis. Of taking other ideas/concepts and combining them to form something new, just as hydrogen and oxygen make water. Indeed, this is how I see my own particular value of “creation” in this world: not new concepts per se, but new combinations that hold the potential to illuminate new ideas.I won’t rehash the concept of emergent strategy here. You should read the book. I found all of it – the six principles – deeply resonant. Yes, I say, yes! But the insight – woven throughout – that I found most compelling in this moment in history is the very notion of emergence… particularly in juxtaposition with the concept of “resistance.” Michelle Alexander’s debut piece in the NY Times made this point well: resistance is fundamentally a reactionary force. It seeks to defend a status quo. Emergence imagines something better: a new way of being, a way of transcending the limitations of the status quo. Properly understood, WE are the emergence. The forces we seek to transcend are the resistance (I’ll adopt the binary here, though like brown I reject it – there is no “them”, only us).Inevitably I found myself reading in dialogue with the many other influences on my thinking. Brene Brown in particular, visible in adrienne’s observation: “Vulnerability means sharing your needs.” (p. 91) And again later: “I want to feel like we are responsible for each other’s transformation…from broken people and communities to whole ones.” (p. 150) I think here of Brene’s concept of the “wholehearted self.”The whole book is a gold mine of quotes and concepts, some original, some derivative, some synthesized. This: “We are creating a world we have never seen.” (p. 163) This perhaps the core feature explaining her attraction to science fiction and the work of black futurists like Butler.I saw myself in the book, and in brown herself… despite our obviously very different lived experiences. Indeed, her impetus for writing the book and the role she conceives for herself is precisely the one I find myself drawn to:“I am not the beginning or creator of the ideas in this book, nor am I the only one thinking this way. I don’t want to become a bottleneck in any way to these concepts blossoming, particularly in the realm of social justice. I want to be a good conduit.More precisely, I want to conduit to be a sacred role between generations, and between ways of knowing. My intention is to be a good conduit of these observations, of this wonder, to grow it. I want our generation to be a good conduit of the world we received, the life.” (p. 272)Yes to all this. Onward and upward. Together.

It's been a while since there was a book which fostered such a strong urge in me personally to create change, not only in myself but in those around me. It is a rallying call to those who actually want to partake in creating a world for all who exist now and will inherit our positive efforts. The experiences and insights share by the author are enlightening. Though I don't agree with a few perspective she has personally, I do agree with the vast majority. Definitely a great read for anyone , especially those looking for renewed purpose.

I decided to read this after Monique Tula, head of the Harm Reduction Coalition mentioned it from the opening plenary of the the international harm reduction conference in Montreal a couple months ago. Suffice to say, my head started to explode with excitement and recognition of the wisdom contained in the pages. It has altered the way I am going about organizing and forming community, how I view the role of harm reduction in society, how I view myself as a leader and participant in harm reduction as a movement and how I can approach the work of building momentum towards community based solution in my home of Western MA. I can't recommend it more highly. I have given away at least 5 copies and have it on my kindle as well as having a hard copy. I have no doubt I will refer to it again and again. To say it has changed my life is not an exaggeration.

I wish I could give this book 6 or 7 stars! I feel like a kindred soul to the author, and this book felt more like a conversation over coffee than a thesis. I believe she expressed a path forward that is unique, intricate, and novel. There are parts of the book that are very practical and other parts that feel like a walk in the clouds, but this gives balance and brings in creativity and art to a topic that often sticks to science. As a social worker and community organizer, I read tons of books about social change, but this is my new favorite!

This book is highly recommended for any leader that plans to transition to the nonprofit sector or sharpen their skill set as a leader. This book takes a very different approach to leadership skills, focusing much more on the importance of soft skills in a leadership capacity and how to maximize them, use them effectively in your organization, transform your way of thinking and management, all while still being true to who you are as an individual.This book also gives real life examples of how many principles and elements of your personality, how you were raised, how you view life, culture, and humanity as useful tools in leadership development. You as a leader through this book will be given insight as to how you can build a sense of community, advocate for the humanity side of others while cultivating and developing strong leadership skills while embracing change. For example, this book provides an AWESOME example into how a traditional staff meeting agenda looks visually versus an emergent strategy based gathering agenda. This book has creativity, innovation, and clear steps that are useful in get the best results for a leader that is willing to do the work to transform themselves that will then transform their world.

Excellent read!!