How We’ll Get There: 4 Key Mantras for Taking Action
On this Special Election 2020 Series, Rich Harwood discusses 4 key mantras you can use to get local communities and the nation to move forward. This is part 3 of our 4-part Facebook Live series.
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Hi, I'm Rich Harwood. Welcome to our Special Election 2020 Series: How We Move Forward From Here. So good to have you with me today. So much to talk about today, so much happening in the country still after our election just a few weeks ago. Shoot me a message and let me know that you can hear me and where you're where you're calling in from today. Really delighted that you're joining me.
This is a four part series. As many of you know, we've done parts one and two. Part One was overcoming the impasse that we're at in the country and how we do that. Part Two was how to shift your focus, so that you can get on a more hopeful, inclusive path. Today, part three, part three of four. And this is one of my favorite subjects - four key mantras for taking action. Again, I'm Rich Harwood, this is our special election 2020 series. Really good to have you with me today. Glad you could join me.
You know, we're facing tough times, I don't need to tell you that. I was just talking to a key leader in Boston, just yesterday morning, in fact. And as we were talking about the challenges that she's facing in Boston, and that we're facing all across our country, at one point, she said to me, “You know, Rich, we thought when all of these crises hit us, we thought that we could respond to the changes happening around us through a 60 or 90 day plan. But now we know it will take much longer. It's like peeling back layers. It's like peeling back layers.” And it is, you know, you've heard me say before, if you've listened in that we're facing four simultaneous crises. Right now in our country, we're experiencing this pandemic COVID-19 that is wreaking havoc on our country. Well, over 13 and a half million people infected over 270,000 American lives lost our infection, our daily infection rate is climbing each and every day. And as you know, this pandemic is disproportionately hitting brown and black people and indigenous people.
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It is disproportionately hitting people with pre existing conditions. It is disproportionately hitting people who lack access to adequate health care if any health care. It is disproportionately hitting people in rural communities. And it is wreaking havoc on our country. And while the vaccines seem to be right around the corner, our numbers just keep going up. As of now, this pandemic has unleashed economic upheaval throughout our country, with record numbers of people unemployed, with many more people fearful that they're going to lose their job. You know, I was just on a call today with someone who owns a small business, in a community in the Midwest, and she said, I don't think I'm gonna make it until March or April. This is a person who has sunk so much time and energy and talent and gifts into this business that she loves the small business that she loves. There are those of you who are retaining your jobs, able to keep your jobs, but may fear that you're gonna have to lay off people who work with you. This economic upheaval has hollowed out downtowns. It has hollowed out malls. It is wreaking havoc across our country.
And then there is the third crisis of systemic racism and social injustice, which crystallized for so many of us with the death, with the murder, of George Floyd. But we all know that systemic racism and social injustice has been with our country for over 400 years since before the founding of our country. It is the original sin of our nation. And it is crystallized in the public's mind. Now, we are unable to turn away from it, we are able to turn our backs on it. We must now face it and figure out ways to deal with it.
And then the fourth crisis, our political crisis, which may for some people seem as though it just happened in the last four years. It's certainly more acute in the last four years, but it is something that I've been working on and writing about and speaking about. For three and a half decades now. Far too many of us have lost faith in our political leaders. Far too many of us have lost faith in institutions. Far too many of us have lost faith in religious institutions. Far too many of us have lost faith in nonprofits and local organizations that seem to be more concerned with their own survival than the civic health of our communities. And let's face it far too many of us have lost faith in one another as fellow citizens as neighbors, as people who we need to rely on. And so these four crises now, are making it tough. And as the person from Boston said, a 60 or 90 day plan, there's no way to get out of the mess that we're in to a six year 90 day plan. We're in for the long haul in dealing with these challenges.
So how do we move forward from here? How do we move forward from here? As I said, in part one of this four part series, we need to recognize that our nation is at an impasse. And at an impasse, we may agree, we may all agree that something is seriously awry or seriously wrong in our nation. But at an impasse there is very little agreement about what to do. And you can see that in our political process right now. At an impasse, people believe that if they simply make grander and louder announcements and release bigger and more comprehensive plans that somehow that will save us. Except, as you know, there is no public will for such plans, no agreement. And such plans and grand announcements only deepen our sense of cynicism, and mistrust in the system, and empty promises about how fast change is going to come about and how easily it will come about, and how swiftly it will come about. We only deepen our sense, as I said before, our sense of cynicism, our sense of skepticism, our sense of mistrust, our sense of frustration, for many of us our sense of anger and rage, about what's happening around us and our sense that things are beyond our control.
So part one I talked about recognizing that we're at an impasse. In part two of this series, I highlighted that each of us must step forward. And if we want to make progress in the country, if we want to get on a more hopeful path, a more inclusive path, we're going to need to shift our focus. And I mentioned four things, I'll just mention them really quickly here, just to recap. I said, you know, we need to start action in our local communities. God knows we need action from our nation's capital and many of our state capitals. But I believe that it's in our local communities that we can see and hear one another, restore and afford each other, our sense of dignity, join together to demonstrate that change is possible.
Beyond starting locally, I said that talk is not enough that we need shared action, we need to demonstrate that progress is possible. Third, I said we need to reinvest in our civic culture that while strategies and programs and initiatives are all important, what we lack in so many communities is a strong enough civic culture to propel our actions forward. Leaders we trust, organizations we trust, organizations that span boundaries, networks, for civic learning and innovation, a shared sense of purpose, a can do spirit. And so we can invest in those things, we can create those things in our local communities. And so if we want to shift our focus, if we want to make more progress, then we're going to have to not only create new programs and strategies
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God knows, we have so many of those already. Well, we need to invest in renewing our civic culture. And lastly, I said, if we want to move forward, you have to shift your focus. And you must use your civic energy judiciously, that we don't have an infinite amount of civic energy, you don't have an infinite amount of civic energy, we each have a finite amount, right? We're only here for a certain amount of time. There are only so many hours in the day, there are only so many things that we can do. We certainly can't be all things to all people. We've got to use our civic energy judiciously if we want to get moving in a new direction.
So I believe the fundamental task before us is not to try to go back to normal, but to restore our belief in ourselves and one another that we can get things done together, right, that we can get things done together. Going back to normal, so called normal is not the answer. You know, and I know, now so many Americans know that normal wasn't all that good for a whole lot of folks. It wasn't that good for a lot of black and brown folks and indigenous folks. It wasn't good for people who lack mental health support. It wasn't good for people who lack access to health care. It wasn't so good for folks who are underemployed and unemployed. It wasn't that good for folks who lived in coal countries whose communities have been decimated, but not rejuvenated. No, normal isn't going to do, it just won't do.
I think what we need to do is we need to reimagine, and recreate our lives, our communities, our society. And to do so we must see ourselves as builders and co creators in that process. So I said that we must recognize that we're at an impasse, and we must shift our focus. Today, I want to talk about a third piece of this, which is that there are four mantras you can use, that you can use starting right now, to make sure you're actually taking action, to make sure that you're moving forward to make sure that you're doing something productive to make sure that you're making a difference.
Four mantras. These mantras if you use them, I know from all our work, that they will help you and they will help your community and they will help all of us get on a more just path, more equitable path, a more fair path, a more inclusive path and a more hopeful path. So four mantras, let me just say a word about where these came from. You know, I found that over the last 30 years of doing this work, I kept saying these things, these four mantras that I'm going to share with you in a minute. I kept saying these things to people all the time. But we had never written them down, we had never really formally made them part of our work, they were never part of our turning outward practice. They just sort of kind of seeped into when we would be teaching the lab or when we were coaching folks or when we were talking to folks on the phone. But we had never actually codified them in any real way. And so we decided to recently, just in the last year to make them formally part of our turning outward practice.
You can get these four monitors, the ones I'm going to talk about, you can download a poster of them from our election series page on our website or in recap emails that come out after these Facebook Lives on Friday. Or better yet, if I can just do a quick ad here, you can sign up on our website for our emails. And you'll get resources like these on a regular basis from the Institute. So go to our website, the Harwood institute.org and sign up for our emails.
So that person in Boston that I was talking about, I want to return to her for a moment in introducing these four mantras. She said that this is a long term challenge that we need to confront and act on, and that we can't solve it all at once. That there are no 60 or 90 day plans that will get us where we need to go. Remember she said we've got to keep peeling back the layers of what's happened to us so that we can make more progress. So in that kind of environment, how is it that you, that we can make progress?
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How is it that we can restore our belief in ourselves in one another? How is it that we can start to reimagine and recreate our lives, our communities and our society? How is it that you can actually be sure that you're even taking action? And that's where these four mantras fit in.
Now think about these mantras as if they're your personal coach. Okay, you here with me? Think about these four mantras like they're your personal coach, think about them, as if there's someone in your mind whispering these to you. Not just once in a while, not even just every day, but regularly throughout the day. That this is the soft voice whispering to your sense of consciousness about what's happening around you. The motivated kind of personal trainer in your life that's helping you both get past this impasse and shift your focus, but also take action to get moving. So as I mentioned these four mantras, get them in your mind and embed them there and think about the voice that's going to be in your mind. After this Hardwood Half Hour, that's going to keep reminding you of these mantras, day in and day out. hour in and hour out, get ready. There’s just four of them. They're really simple. They're deceptively simple.
The first one is this, “Turn Outward.” Turn Outward. It's so easy right now and in general, but particularly now, to turn inward. You know, the more stress that we're under, we've done millions of dollars of research on this, but you don't need to research for this, you know this intuitively, what I'm about to tell you. The more stress that you're under, the more pressure you're under, the more you need to deliver results. The more you feel as though you've got to hunker down and get something done reflexively, the more we turn inward, right? The more relevant and significant and impactful we want our actions to be, what we find in our work in our research, is the more inward return. So at this time, in this moment, when we're facing these four crises, a pandemic, and economic upheaval, systemic racism, and social injustice, and these political crises that we're facing, you're going to feel compelled, you're going to feel the urge, you're going to feel the reflex to turn inward. So you need this little voice that I've been talking about. This friendly voice, this candid friend in your mind, right? You need this voice to say to you, you know, now's not the time to turn inward, I've got to turn outward, I've got to turn outward. And I've got to stay turned outward. Why? Because I've got to have the community in my line of sight, I need my work to focus on people. If I want my work to be relevant and significant and impactful in this world, if I want our community, if I want our nation, if I want my life, to feel as though it's moving forward around the challenges, the common challenges to share challenges we face. Then I've got to turn outward. This is a mindset, a posture, a disposition.
And so just when you're hunkering down, think about turning outward. When you look in the mirror in the morning to brush your hair, or your guys shave or brush your teeth or wash your face. Think about, “Am I going to be turned outward today?” So that's the first mantra: turn outward.
Second, “Get in motion.” Get in motion. You know, the harder we work at things, the more we believe we need to plan. The more difficulties we see in front of us, the more we get into a planning mode. The more we believe that the challenges are getting larger in front of us, the more we resort to planning and look. I like planning. I like planning. I'm a planner. The Institute does a lot of planning itself. But here's what I know. Here's one thing I know. If we want to get things moving in our lives, in our communities in our nation, then we need to get in motion.
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And here's what else I've learned over these 30 years, that the moment when we're in motion, when we get in motion when we're the point when you get in motion. All of a sudden, you make new discoveries. And when you make new discoveries, there are new possibilities. And when you discover new possibilities, you discover new partners to work with. And when you discover new possibilities and new partners, all of a sudden serendipity starts to take over the unexpected, the unpredictable, the unimaginable. And that's when we know really good things are happening. And when that happens, when we get in motion, this is really critical. This is really critical. When we get emotion and these things start to happen we feel a sense of agency. You feel a sense that I can do this, that we can do this, that we can actually make a dent in things. We may not be able to solve everything overnight. But I can start to make a dent in things and the more agency you feel, the more sense of power you feel, the more sense of power you feel, the more momentum that you're going to be able to develop and the more confidence you're going to develop. And so getting in motion, it sounds so simple, it sounds maybe even simplistic, but the effects that it has on us. The sense of agency and power and capability just gets unleashed when we do this. And that's really important. So you still with me here?
So these four key mantras for taking action. Number one: turn outward. The second one I just mentioned, get in motion. And here's the third one. Here's the third one, “Start small to go big.” Start small to go big. Now, I know. I know, because people say this to me every day, “Are you out of your mind, Rich? Start small to go big? Our problems, our challenges are so large, they are so systemic. They're so structural.”
And I know that and I am as impatient as the next person. I actually am enraged by many of the things that are happening in our country, and that have been happening for years and decades and generations, right. But here's the other thing I know. When we're at an impasse, when there is so much acrimony and divisiveness, when there is resistance to change, when we don't have a healthy enough civic culture to support large scale change, the most important thing we can do is to start small to go big. We need to get in motion and start things moving. And if we insist on creating comprehensive plans, I can guarantee you that they may start but they will stall. And oftentimes they will fail. I can guarantee you that in many communities, most communities I'm working in all across the country and in other countries, that when they stall, start and then stall and then fail, that they will deepen people's cynicism and their sense of frustration and anger and rage. And when this happens, more people will retreat and hunker down and leave the public square just when we need them the most. Starting small to go big is not a surrender. It's the exact opposite. It's stepping forward and declaring your intentions and saying that I am going to make something happen. And here's the thing.
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In all the work that we've done, and all the studies that I've done, I'm about to release a new book on this called Unleashed when we looked at nine communities over the last 30 years that we worked in, every change in those communities started small. And they grew out from there; they catalyzed a chain reaction in communities that kept growing and growing. Not like the pandemic contagion that we have in our country, a negative contagion, but a positive contagion, one that spreads and grows, and people pull it into the community. And so you can start small to go big and release, unleash this chain reaction in your community. And when you do it, people will begin to see it and gain confidence that we can start to take action again. So that's the third mantra, right? First one, turn outward, second one, get in motion. Third one: start small to go big and unleash this chain reaction.
Here's the fourth one “Create a trajectory of hope.” Create a trajectory of hope. There are two parts of this right, actually three. One is to create, remember I talked about before, we need to see ourselves as builders in this process as partners, as co-creators. We need to be in the creation business, that we're creating things. That's why starting small to go big is so important. That's why getting in motion is so important. That's why turning outward is so important. So you understand the context around you and where you can make a difference. So this fourth one is: create a trajectory of hope.
So first, we've got to see ourselves as creators. Second, we've got to create a trajectory. Now what is a trajectory? A trajectory is not one data point, not one thing happening. It's multiple things happening that create a certain direction, a trajectory, right. And right now, so many of our trajectories are moving in the wrong direction, negative directions. Think about the infection rate in this country, with COVID-19. Think about the number of deaths that are piling up due to this virus. Think about the number of small businesses that are closing and will close moving forward all negative trajectories. Think about the number of communities where people are losing a sense of possibility because the communities are moving in the wrong direction. And people believe that their better days are behind them not ahead of them. We need to create positive trajectories that are moving In a positive, constructive direction. And when that happens when people can begin to see that our trajectories are shifting from a negative direction into a more positive, constructive direction.
What do those trajectories create? Hope. Hope. And what we need now, what you need, what I need, what our fellow Americans need, what our neighbors need, what your relatives need, sure you thought about this over Thanksgiving recently, what we need is a sense of possibility and hope. We need to believe in each other in one another. We need to sense that tomorrow can be better than today. That's how I define hope. I don't define it in some abstract terms. It's not a political slogan, it's not something you slap on a bumper sticker, it's not something you simply use in speeches. Heck, it's not even something you write books about, even though I've written three or four books with the word hope in them. And by the way, I hope you buy those books. But more importantly, much more importantly, hope to me is defined by let's say, the single mom with two kids. And whether or not when she sends her two kids to a public school, whether it's in person or now remotely, that she believes her two kids will actually be able to have a shot at the American dream, about whether or not she believes her two kids will be able to fulfill their God given potential. It's when her two kids put their heads down on their pillows. Remember when you were a kid, and right before you close your eyes, and to fall asleep, you may even do this now, I know I do. Sometimes you're closing your eyes, you've drowsing off. And you wonder, “Will tomorrow really be better than today? Can I have a sense of hope? Is it okay to hope? Is it safe to hope? Will I face disappointment again, will I face being pushed down again, will I face being discriminated against again?”
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Well, I have a real sense of possibility. The way in which we as society, the way in which our communities, the way in which our organizations and the people around us gain a sense of possibility and hope is when we create a new trajectory that's moving in the right direction that we can sustain over time. And so these four mantras for taking action, they're not our practice, I don't want to confuse them with our practice. They're not the direction you need to shift, which I covered last week, or how we get past this impasse which I covered the week before. But they are really important, because they're like this personal coach you have, in your mind, they're the person whispering to you, each and every day. They're the personal trainer that's building your civic muscles so that you can take action. So you can turn outward so you can get in motion. So you can start small to go big. And importantly, so that you can create a new trajectory of hope.
You know, I do this work, because I believe we have a long way to go to fulfill the promise of America. I’ve believed that for a long time. I believe it more deeply, more strongly, more fervently than I've ever believed it. And I believe really deeply that part of our role here on this earth is to ensure that each and every individual and I mean each and every individual, regardless of the color of their skin, regardless of how much money they have, regardless of their ethnicity, regardless of the type of car they drive, whether they have two parents, one parent or no parent at home, regardless of their zip code, regardless of anything. That each of us should be able to fulfill our God given potential, and should be afforded dignity.
My experience over these past 30 years tells me that real progress is possible. I know we have a long way to go. I just said that. And I believe it. We do have a long way to go. But I also know notwithstanding the stains on our nation's history and because of the stains on our nation's history, we need to make progress and I know we can make more progress. And I know that not because I read it in a book not because I wrote a book not because someone told me but because I see it. And I can touch it much like you can. I see it in Winchester in Clark County, Kentucky where over the last three years this rural community that looked back and thought its best days were behind it now all of a sudden recognizes, because they're creating it, that their best days are ahead. And in the last three years, they've made more progress than any other community I've worked with. Since I began doing this work over 30 years ago. I know that because I saw the people in Mobile, Alabama transform their public schools and transform their civic culture. And as the person who led the work there told me that they created a genuine sense of hope. I see it now in our work in Jackson, Mississippi, where teams of people who have come together are taking small steps forward. And they're not beating down the world. And they're not overcoming all the systemic challenges yet. But they're making a downpayment on them, and they're starting to move forward.
And I know that there are more people in our country who want to take action, who want to shift their direction, who want to help us overcome this impasse. I know this because, well, we're getting calls each and every day from folks who want to work with the Institute and make something good happen. There is hope out there, much like there are challenges out there. Our task is to recognize the challenges and to build on the hope that exists, and to make it real for each and every American in our nation.
Next week, I'm going to talk more about why we do this work and what underpins it at the Institute. I'm going to talk about our philosophy of civic faith, and why it's so important, and how you can use it as a Northstar in everything that you do in your work. Until then, my hope for you is that you can step forward and help us break through this impasse in our country. By reimagining and recreating our lives, our communities and this nation.
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And that you through your actions and through our shared actions that, together we can help get us on a more just path, a more equitable path, a fairer path, a more inclusive path, a more hopeful path in our country.. And one way that you can do this is by keeping these four key mantras in your mind. And listening to that personal trainer, that coach, that whisper, that voice in your mind, who's telling you each and every day to turn outward to get in motion to start small to go big enough to create a new trajectory of hope.
So until next week, when we'll do part four of this special election 2020 series at 4PM Eastern Time on Tuesday. If you want more information about the Harwood Institute, go to www.theharwoodinstitute.org. If you haven't had a chance to read my latest book, Stepping Forward, go to amazon.com or our website and get a copy. If you have read the book, please share it with other people. And until we see each other again next week. I hope you stay well. I hope you stay healthy. And I hope you're in good spirits. Be well. Thanks so much for joining me.