Leadership, Organizing and Action: Leading Change

Main ideas and lessons conveyed

• Purpose of the course: The video introduces a leadership course focused on “the practice of leadership,” specifically organizing.
• What “organizing” means in this course framework:
  • Developing the leadership of others
  • Building community around that leadership
  • Building the power the community needs to solve its problems
  • Doing so using the community’s own resources
• Course structure and duration:
  • A 14-week curriculum
  • Organized around five key practices
  • Includes learning how to create an organizational structure that supports using those practices effectively
• Learning experience and community:
  • Students come from around the world, adding a relational dimension to learning
  • Example: last year students were from over 25 different countries, learning together in real time
• Project-based approach:
  • Each participant is doing their own organizing project
• Instructor’s personal passions/examples:
  • Environmental movement work related to capping interest rates on credit cards and loans
  • HIV-related work in Serbia, where people were brought together to share ideas, interests, observations, and experiences

Methodology / framework presented

Five practices the curriculum focuses on

1. Relationship building
2. Storytelling
3. Strategizing
4. Action
5. Creating organizational structure to support the exercise of the above practices

Core organizing approach (as defined by the instructor)

• Develop others’ leadership
• Build community around that leadership
• Build the community’s collective power
• Enable problem-solving using the community’s own resources

How learning is applied

• Participants complete their own organizing project during the course
• The course includes support to help participants make the difference they want to make

Speakers / sources featured

• Marshall Ganz (instructor; teaches at the Harvard Kennedy School)