Leaders and Creators Podcast

Colin Delany @epolitics

Colin and I also discuss the philosophies in Jaron Lanier's "You Are Not a Gadget" and Kurt Vonnegut's "Player Piano," and how organizations, from advocacy non-profits to citizens groups like the Tea Party, turn their online networks into offline political influence.

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I first met Nathan Henderson-James in his role as an advisor to some of NationBuilder's early advocacy customers. Over the past year, I've met and talked to organizers across the U.S. who trust Nathan for his level head and deep historical knowledge of labor and community organizing. In today's "Leaders and Creators," Nathan talks about his inspirations - a grandfather rooted in radical union movements, activists parents who participated in Students for a Democratic Society, and an awe for the leaders of the Civil Rights Movement. He also shares about his career with ACORN, the controversial organizing behemoth that imploded in 2010. 

Nathan's experience with the growth and crash of ACORN offers lessons for advocacy groups seeking to expand their influence - deal quickly and openly with any employee malfeasance, and acknowledge that expansion requires more structure. Anything less leaves you extremely vulnerable to external pressures.

He also describes the basis for organizing from the ground up and teaching people to directly confront those with the power to improve their living conditions.

I also talked with Nathan about my direct experiences with Occupy protesters. How do protestors and politicians fit into the "99%" framework? "We have to have a conversation about elections and government; if you're categorically against having anything to do with (politicians) you have to have some other way of influencing the public policy realm." 

Nathan Henderson-James @nathanhjb

Nathan closed by offering his personal thoughts on what can be changed in the U.S. by the Occupy movement. His basic message: keep Wall Street in the bullseye. "We can't have an honest conversation about dealing with wealth inequality - which means dealing with the economy, fundamentally - without first dealing with the problem of what to do with Wall Street and Wall Street banks."

Finally, my apologies for the choppy quality of the recording. It's been quite busy at NationBuilder, and my conversation with Nathan was recorded in a hallway at Pace University during Netroots NY. Hang in there - we've got some great plans for Leaders and Creators, and we look forward to being back with you in the new year.

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Kirk J. Torrance is one of the digital strategists who helped lead the Scottish National Party to its most sweeping victory in history this past spring. Newspapers in the U.K. called the SNP's win a "Facebook revolution." 

On "Leaders and Creators," Kirk explains that his plan for the parliamentary elections started with a message he wrote on his bathroom mirror - "SNP Everywhere." The roll out included a digital organizer with each SNP candidate and twice-daily conference calls to discuss the campaign's social media messaging. 

Kirk's background includes education in how to monetize technology innovation, which he now uses to turn tech innovation into votes and political muscle. After leaving a job in the Los Angeles film industry to help the SNP take power in Scotland, he's recently founded Industrial New Media and is working on a referendum to restore Scottish sovereignty for the first time in 300 years.

Kirk J. Torrance @kirkjtorrance

Political organizing online will also impact the future of social media itself, Kirk says, with individuals developing a kind of collective consciousness that means, "revolutions will take place very rapidly online."

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He's been called "The worst person in the world" by Keith Olbermann; he's opening a new office in San Francisco, and he's got a "man blog" that mixes Sunday School, Pulp Fiction and whiskey reviews.

In the latest episode of NationBuilder's Leaders and Creators, I talk with South Carolina political operative Wesley Donehue about the GOP presidential field, his start in organizing as a 13 year old on public assistance, and his experience defending Rep. Joe Wilson after the 2009 "You lie!" incident during a presidential speech to a joint session of Congress.

Wesley Donehue @wesleydonehue

Donehue also talks about social media in politics, using Nancy Pelosi as a liberal caricature, and what he likes about San Francisco.

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How do grassroots activists influence the policies of the world's larget corporations? Shareholder actions, spectacle, letters from religious leaders and thousands of regular folks, for a start.

In the latest episode of NationBuilder's Leaders and Creators, I talk with Robin Schneider, director of Texas Campaign for the Environment about flashmobs at Wal-Mart stores around the country, and her organizing start as a 17-year-old canvasser engaged in "door-step democracy."

Schneider's victories include convincing Dell, Apple and Samsung to recycle their obsolete computers; as vice chair of the Electronics TakeBack Coalition, she works to ensure that mistakes from Silicon Valley - home of the highest concentration of Superfund sites in the U.S. - aren't repeated in other tech hotspots around the world. 

Robin Schneider @txenvironment

TCE is currently working with groups around the country to convince Wal-Mart to follow the lead of BestBuy and take back old TVs at its retail outlets, and just launched TakeItBackWalMart.com in concert with a series of Halloween-themed in-store flash actions.

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In this inaugural episode of Leaders and Creators, the NationBuilder interview show, I interview Austin Guest, of ALIGN NY, and Olivia Leirer and Greg Basta, of New York Communities for Change, three of the organizers behind Occupy The Board Room, an online action bringing together more than 70 groups to promote "pen pal" actions directed at the executives and board members of large U.S. banks. In just one week, OTBR gathered a mailbag of more than 6,000 personal stories, which organizers are now emailing to the bank executives in batches of 99 at a time.

Austin Guest @austingst

Olivia Leirer @oliviarising

Greg Basta @gbnychange

We discuss the gift economy in action at Occupy Wall Street, and the role community organizers play in the movement that began on September 17 in New York's Zuccotti Park.

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Here at NationBuilder, we consider organizing one of the world's most important jobs (and I'm not just writing that because my title is "chief organizer"). Savvy organizers are key to success, whether you're a community group trying to get a stop sign placed, an artist building a fan base, or a U.S. presidential candidate. Organizers bring people together around common goals and move them to action using a unique blend of charisma, strategy and art. 

NationBuilder is pleased to announce a new interview show, "Leaders and Creators," focused on the best of the best in this important profession. We'll talk to folks who've built nationwide canvassing operations, who've worked to bring democracy to the most dangerous corners of our world, and to the folks political leaders look to for the critical data analysis it takes to win campaigns. I'll be your regular host, drawing from my experience as a journalist and host and producer of Gov 2.0 Radio, with regular co-host help from a handful of online's brightest minds.

Leaders and Creators launches on Nov. 6, and you won't want to miss an episode. Sign up above for episode updates by email, RSS or on iTunes.

And, if you've got an organizer in mind that we must interview, let me know at adriel at nationbuilder.com, using "podcast" in the subject line.