Welcome to the Decade of Courage!
The vision for this community has grown over this past year in response to several disconnects, needs and opportunities for progress that we see in the world.
First, we have many looming, and in some cases existential, threats facing us as a society. Climate change. Mass inequality. Racism. This part is pretty well understood by most of us.
But it’s also true that too often we are being fed false choices. So many of my friends and family–not to mention people in my professional networks–feel that addressing these societal challenges is something we are responsible for as individuals, as if these big problems can be solved through our behaviors and choices alone. This is a burden so big it can be paralyzing.
It is also untrue.
As Anne Price shares in a recent Roosevelt Institute report, “solutions to address racial wealth inequality have often focused on behavioral changes and individual choices, minimizing efforts to dismantle structural barriers to wealth accumulation.”
The same is true of climate change. Recognizing the psychological toll that the climate crisis has on us, environmental writer Emma Marris offers a five point plan for moving from being toxically weighed down by the individual burden to contributing to systems-level solutions.
The transition is essential.
Systems change is the only way we stand a chance at tackling the big problems facing society. It also shifts the burden to where it belongs: the existing powers–in many cases giant corporations–that have been profiting from the status quo while running massive gaslighting campaigns to leave us, as consumers, carrying the guilt and shame.
This shift, while needed, doesn’t let us off the hook as individuals. Indeed, Marris argues that we must join an effective group (and lucky for us, there are many) and then define our role. We all have strengths that we can put to use towards systemic change. Alone, even the greatest of these strengths will not be enough. But put together with the strengths of others, in a practice of radical interdependence to quote the great Lorna Davis, we can make the change we need and deserve.
Where to start? The economy. Who to start with? The activists and scholars like Anne Price and others who have been studying, writing on and working towards economic justice for decades. There are many people we can look to who understand the fundamental flaws of our economic system–like, that it has no vision to guide it–and the ways in which it can be transformed to work in service for all–like, by developing an accountability system “that aligns the interests [of] institutional investors and corporations with those of the human beings whose capital they control,” as former judge Leo E. Strine, Jr. writes.
In tough moments like the one we’re in right now, we should not be rushing in to bail out the economy, as is too often suggested in the mainstream.
The economy should be bailing out us.
On the Decade of Courage podcast, you can expect to hear voices like those I have cited here, as well as those of business leaders and changemakers who will help us to build a collective vision for an inclusive economy. They will share insights, stories and examples of how we can transform capitalism and collaborate across sectors to achieve this vision.
Then, through our PodClub, we will explore how companies can position themselves to be leaders of this new economy.
This is the moment.
Because time is running out—and in some cases, change is long overdue.
Because there is momentum.
Because the pandemic creates an opening for the transformation of our economy.
Because you don’t have to carry the burden of this change alone.
Join us.
- Get inspired. The Decade of Courage podcast will share inspiring stories of companies and leaders that are daring to approach the same problems differently. Subscribe.
- Participate. It will take collective courage to make big change. Each courageous act creates space for another company or leader to do the same. Join our community.
- Lead the change. Courageous leaders ask “what if?” and share a vision of what’s possible to inspire others to join them in making it happen. Share yours with us.
