It was an honor to join the new board of Social Enterprise Alliance earlier this month, after an intense period of organizing with 40 SEA chapter leaders across the country. On February 11, the outgoing board, who many of us believe were trying to make the best choices to allow the Alliance to thrive, announced that local chapters would cease to exist by March 31. This was what my mentor, Eric Martin, would refer to as "mistaking authority for leadership." They had the authority, but because we had not been involved and vehemently disagreed with this decision, we stepped into that leadership moment and worked to chart a new course.
And now, here we are! We do not know how things will play out - maybe we will struggle and fail; maybe it was already an impossible task, due to the economy caving in or otherwise. What we do know is that with whatever time we have, we will re-build into a bottom-up organization, where strategic decisions are made by a spectrum of local leaders as informed by the realities in their communities.
To do that well, we will need your help. And the help of folks who aren't on LinkedIn. And the truly frontline leaders working to build a just economy, through social enterprise and other methods. Let's make this an Alliance that builds power in all of us!
We talk a lot about allies in social justice work, but if there’s one idea I want you to walk away with (and that’s why it’s in the title), it’s that your ally is not your partner. Your allies support your efforts but they will not take risks with you, at least not the kinds that you need them to in order to create systemic change. Your partners will. Know the difference, or else you will find yourself in critical moments with far less support than you thought you had.
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