The Transformative Spark of Collective Power

Collective power has combusted, creating a seemingly sudden and transformative shift in American civic life.

A Nation Ignited

Like many Americans, I have been transfixed by the seemingly sudden and transformative shift in the presidential race and American culture. It included a heroic decision from President Biden but that alone does not explain the energy, the excitement, and the joy we have seen since he decided to end his campaign for a second term as President and hand the campaign to Vice President Harris.

Before Biden made that announcement, there was the same anxiety, fear, and speculation that has been a hallmark of our politics for the last decade. But as his decision was more probable, something remarkable happened; Black women started preparing for it.

Win with Black Women, a network of committed group of Black women political activists and leaders, had already been gathering regularly. Immediately after the announcement, they scheduled a call to raise money and discuss ways to support Harris, organized by Jotaka Eaddy, a seasoned strategist in her own right Notably, however, it is hard to identify the leaders and organizers of this network, which seems intentional and is an important message and framing. On July 21st 44,000 Black women joined their Zoom call and raised $1,500,000 for Harris. Next, they issued a challenge to white women, who even when supportive tend to demure from active engagement and leadership

Shannon Watts, the founder of Mom’s Demand Action a large network of women she had also cultivated over the years, answered the challenge. Together with Glennon Doyle and Connie Britton they held a call on July 25th to raise money and talk about how white women needed to step into accountability and leadership. It was attended by 164,000 participants, mostly white women. The scale caused technical issues for both zoom and the fundraising platform but by July 27th, the total raised was over $11,000,000. Those calls inspired a raft of others, including Black Men for Harris and White Men for Harris. That initial call set off a cascade of momentum that is unlike anything we have seen in modern presidential campaigns. Between those initial calls and today (August 21st) less than a month later, the Harris campaign has raised a staggering $500M, mostly from small dollar donors.

This incredible month has been a cultural watershed, that seemingly sprung up out of nowhere. And now, as a bookend, the Democratic National Convention is giving more visibility, depth, and power to the shift.

It’s Not Magic

Those watching might be tempted to explain it as some kind of magical kismet, but that dismisses and diminishes the effectiveness of a different orientation to leadership, organizing, engagement, and progress championed by not one but many, many leaders, who know that the ego-centric, control-oriented approach is hollow.

This different vision of what it means to create impact was incisively communicated by Michelle Obama last night in her speech to the DNC. She called out the passive and lazy critique of leaders and in particular, the unprincipled evisceration of leaders when they reveal their humanity in a misstep.

Her implicit questions:

• If you see a need, why don’t you fill it?

• If you see someone attack a person you claim to support, why don’t you defend them?

• If you care and it matters, why don’t you DO SOMETHING?

• Why do you need permission?

While she was speaking about practical things, her framing of leadership is that leadership is not concentrated in one individual - or even a small handful of individuals. We ALL have a leadership role to play and, when we all step into our leadership, our power cannot be denied.

Underlying this is also an important message; anxiety comes from feeling powerless and the way to feel powerful and less anxious is to DO SOMETHING.

It’s A Different Model for Power

Those who explain this sudden shift as some kind of mystical confabulation of factors are more likely to have easy access to power, which they see as individual; either their birthright or something that is bestowed with a defined role. They are the least likely to understand power and how it accumulates because they have always had it. They don’t see emerging collective power and the layers of foundation built up through focused, determined work.

The people who build collective power are typically individuals who have lacked traditional access to individualized power. What they know too is that collective power is, well, empowering.

Collective power is energizing.

Collective power is generative.

Collective power is engaging.

Collective power is joyful.

Collective power activates others.

Collective power, when harnessed, will trump institutionalized and individual power every day. It will not be denied because it grows unrecognized through personal networks. It is also why AI will never replace humans, because political power is unique to humans.

Collective Power Looks Dormant Until It Combusts

So, how did the entire tenor and trajectory of the Presidential campaign shift in a month?

There are thousands of groups, many going back decades that have been doing the daily work of building and activating power; Win with Black Women, Mom’s Demand, The Women’s March, Indivisible, NOW, League of Women Voters, Black Panthers, the WNBA (watch The Power of The Dream) - I could go on and on and they include sororities, alumni groups, faith groups, and book clubs.

These are the groups are often politically dormant for years (such as Supermajority) but the connection and infrastructure remain. Most are organized and maintained by women. They operate independently but can be collectively activated when they connect, igniting a spark that spreads quickly through the ecosystem, akin to the community phone tree of my grandmother’s generation.

Democratically (small d) oriented political leaders are the most likely to understand this power. Senator Elizabeth Warren used a community-centric approach in her Presidential campaign four years ago and President Biden used this approach internationally when responding to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which also came together with astonishing speed.

Lessons of Collective Power

• Control is only one type of power, which is tied to roles but it will never be as engaging or energizing as collective power.

• Collective power requires connection, communities, and networks - all the groups created to engage in civic action.

• Collective power needs a shared purpose and objective, which aligns efforts without control and governance. This has been the primary role of the Harris campaign; to articulate a vision that is meaningful.

• Urgency of shared purpose actives collective power almost immediately, which was created by the switch in candidates late in the presidential race, which has focused groups on the urgency to act.

• Leadership is everyone’s job and not just for those in leadership roles. Leaders are defined by their actions in identifying a need and addressing it autonomously.

• Autonomous leadership can act quickly because it does not need to be coordinated. We saw this in the Zoom calls for Harris, which were not sponsored, organized, or promoted by the Harris campaign.