Sí, se puede!

How does a cheap, unorganized and powerless workforce come together and challenge the giant agriculture corporations?

You build a narrative that requires action.

That is how the United Workers Union in 1965, lead by César Chávez, took on the Delano grape farmers and sparked a movement.

As Marshall Ganz has spoken about, you need three things to organize and create a movement of action:

You need a story of why we are doing this.

You need a strategy of how—What’s the theory of change? How are we using the resources we have?

Finally, what is the structure?—What is it we are doing to actually organize? Which tactic should we use?

If this sounds familiar it is because Simon Sinek confirms this work with his theory of The Golden Circle:

Whether we are talking about Apple, the computer company, or migrant workers, it’s the why—not the what or how—that compels a group of people to leap into uncertainty and hope for a better future.

The answer, sometimes, isn’t to just point to the injustice or to what is wrong with the world but, instead, substitute a simple slogan of what could be.

“Yes, we can.”

“It’s time.”

“He’s finished.”

“Enough.”

Narration over compliance.