It all starts with you

I think we often underestimate ourselves; thinking that just one person can’t make that big of a difference. While it’s seemingly irrelevant to politics, this at&t commercial does a great job of showing just how much power one person can have – if we just reach out.

Decades ago, getting a group together as quickly as the college students do in this commercial, would have been nearly impossible. But, now, being more connected than ever, we can easily reach out to friends, family, past classmates, coworkers and even a few friend of a friend’s, to create a large network of supporters.

So, how come we don’t see examples of this happening on a daily basis?

Because we often limit our thinking to just ourselves, thinking that singularly, we only can do so much on our own, instead of expanding our horizons to a large network of people who are ready and willing to help.

The next time you, or your coalition, are looking to reach an exponentially growing network of people, keep a few things in mind:

1. Create something worth sharing. Ensure that your message is worthy of people sharing with their friends and family (who will then pass it on to theirs and so on). That might include creating a sense of urgency, communicating values in a creative way (videos, photos) or using emotional anecdotes (such as a lost puppy…).
2. Encourage sharing. Provide viewers with the tools to share these messages, whether it’s including a share bar on your website’s content or allowing them to forward emails easily.
3. Show them how big the network is. No matter how independent and self-confident a person is, we often look to other people to see how we should act. Thus, explaining why full tip jars get more tips than empty ones, because we feel a social pressure to conform. If someone can see that a group or cause has thousands of supporters who are mobilized and taking action, chances are, when they join, they’ll start acting the exact same way.

Above all, remember, it only has to start with you.

Josie Romero, a young child, teaches us to never give up

The story of Josie Romero, who was featured on “Sex, Lies, and Gender,” on Nat Geo TV last week, teaches us the power of acceptance and perseverance against all odds. You see, Josie hadn’t been known as such for her whole life. Prior to a few years ago, this adorable little girl went by the name of Joey. Josie is an 8-year-old transgender.

Her parents, both in a military and traditional family, did struggle with accepting their son’s desire to wear dresses, be referred to as a female and play with dolls. However, after a couple years of only allowing Josie to act out on her desires at home, they realized that they were impeding on her happiness.  Her father, an Air Force Lieutenant, had the hardest time accepting the changes, but as he states, only because he felt like he had lost a son. Both parents did an incredible thing by allowing Josie to be who she truly is; allowing her to go to school on base as herself, despite the turmoil it caused with parents and students, and even having her birth certificate changed to acknowledge that her name is Josie and she is female.

While the story of her family’s acceptance is extremely powerful, Josie’s own story is something that we can really learn from. Her mother states that she was constantly harassed and verbally and physically abused by her classmates only for being who she was. Josie was deeply hurt by the way she was treated, but refused to change the way she lived her life. At 8-years-old, Josie recognized the importance of persevering and trying again and again.

When working in coalitions, it’s easy to get downtrodden due to the bullies' comments. They’re saying mean things about you and what you feel passionate about. They don’t have much respect for you. They might even try to push you down. But, Josie serves as a precedent for how we too should act. Despite the naysayers, we need to keep moving forward, being who we are, spreading our message and being happy. And if we keep doing that, we really will be able to unite and conquer.

Kid Sister knows how to Unite and Conquer: Learn from people that are different than you

Kid Sister: Multi-Culti.

Often times, we run from the unknown. And if we’re not taking off in a full-on sprint, we’ll turn our cheek and ignore it. It’s disheartening that throughout our daily lives the moments that we truly embrace others differences are a rare commodity.

Kid Sister, an African American, Native American, and Caucasian rap artist from Obama’s last hometown, is enlightened enough at age 29 to understand that we gain a vast amount of knowledge and insight when we explore others' views. When working in a coalition or trying to work a law through the legislature, it’s important to seek out people that don’t always fit into the cookie cutter mold of what you would expect of people who are passionate about that issue. These people will not only open your eyes to new ideas, but they also can be a tremendous help with strategic communication. They say keep your friends close and keep your enemies closer for a reason. Working with someone who agrees with you on environmental issues, but doesn’t agree with you on abortion, LGBT rights and immigration can help craft a better message that will appeal to similar, like-minded people.

So they next time you’re working on legislation or putting a coalition together, run, don’t walk, towards those people with different views.

As a group it’s important to unite and conquer, but individually, Senator Kent Conrad teaches us it’s better to divide

Senator Conrad, who was often referred to as chart man in the Senate, was taught by Democratic Party Leaders that one of the keys to success is to choose one area and master it. The reasoning behind this is that if every Democratic member of the senate has their own set of expertise and skills, it gives them clout and guarantees that someone knows what he or she is talking about.

Conrad took this advice to heart—and to the bank. For twenty years he was the ranking Democrat on the Budget Committee. Throughout his career, he has made himself the go-to expert in the senate’s business—raising and allocating funds. Through study history, he quickly learned that the key to a country’s success was having a strong and healthy economy. And part of that equation is ensuring that runaway debts don’t threaten the success of America.

Conrad helped lead Democrats in the fight to prevent the Bush Administration from increasing the U.S. debt limit to $9 trillion and from passing a $2.8 trillion budget, but unfortunately they were unsuccessful.

According to Time Magazine, becoming an expert in budgeting came in handy. President Bush was, “pushing a plan for partially privatizing Social Security in 2005, put the hard sell on him. Bush first tried by flying with Conrad to Fargo, N.D., then, after they returned, kept the pressure on by inviting him to the White House, where he dropped hints about election-year vulnerability for red-state Democrats. But Conrad, whose honorary Sioux name translates as 'Never Turns Back,' stood firm in his opposition to the plan.” Conrad said, “I could never support something that added dramatically to the debt," Conrad says. “I told him, 'Count me out.'”

The often forgotten key to coalition success: Have fun

Of course, every coalitions goal is to create change. And it’s often not an easy task.

So, how do you ensure that people remain excited and passionate about what you’re trying to accomplish? It’s simple: Have fun.

Encourage people to have a sense of humor, find people that work hard but also have class clown tendencies, make sure the people you’re working with have a good attitude and aren’t the type to stress everyone out. It’s good to have people with type A tactics, because, after all, you do want to get some work done, but don’t leave out those with type B attitudes because they’ll help keep a positive, approachable vibe.

If it’s all work and no play, people are going to get burnt out. It sounds cliché, but try and build your coalition with people that play as hard as they work.

Tom Tancredo definitely knew how to divide, but not how to conquer

For the 10 years he was in the House, Tancredo was dead set on deporting every single undocumented worker and ceasing all forms of immigration all together. One of his most famous examples of how dead-set he was on accomplishing this goal is that he “wanted to deport the family of an undocumented high school boy who was profiled in The Denver Post for his perfect grades.”

What’s interesting is that (as with most of us in America) he is the grandson of immigrants. I still don’t get the logic behind arguing against immigration when you yourself wouldn’t be here if America hadn’t had an open door policy. But anyways, Tancredo was notorious for urging Americans to reject “the siren song of multiculturalism.”

It should be pretty obvious that Tancredo and I are on opposite sides of the spectrum, especially on this issue, but the key takeaway is that when running into the Tancredo’s of the world, look for the good.

While his views of immigration are, well, archaic at best, he does have a few values that most people would be able to agree on. For instance, he sponsored the Sudan Peace Act, which was passed unanimously in the Senate without amendment seven days later, and was signed into law on November 21, 2002.

Need more proof he has a heart? After the Columbine shooting, he gathered resources in order to respond to the Beslan school hostage crisis in Russia. He helped orchestrate Colorado students, who made thousands of cards and letters for the Russian children, which he and his wife passed out to the survivors.

If you’re in politics, coalitions, or just interact with people for that matter, it becomes obvious that we can’t always agree on everything. When working with people, especially those that you disagree with on big issues, it’s important to look at the good in them. If Tom Tancredo had focused more on working with people, instead of shutting them out via his harsh views on immigration, he would have had more successful terms in office.