I knew I was going to have a lot to write about after agreeing to gather signatures on the petition to make sure that we have reproductive freedom here in Ohio.
I just didn’t think I’d be writing about leadership.
Here’s the deal folx…liberals lose in states like OH because our ground game sucks eggs. An OVERWHELMING number of people think that the August election is appalling and an equal number of people think women should have the right to not be human incubators and second class citizens.
But ya know what they say about opinions…everyone has one.
An opinion ain’t worth squat without action. And goddess bless them, having now lived and politicked for the Dems in 6 states, it is time for a come to Moses moment with liberals.
Your leadership is awful. You don’t mean it to be, but it.does.not.matter.
An app for canvassing is NOT leadership.
Leadership by old white people who can’t use social media is also not leadership. If your meeting didn’t happen on social media, it didn’t happen. If someone went to canvass out in the concrete canyons of Cuyahoga County and there’s no social media game, it is about 15% as useful as it could be.
Sorry, not sorry.
You know what leadership is? It is the granular level of making sure that where you are going, there will be people. That the venue is open. Literally open and you are there during business hours. It is making sure that people have signs, buttons, paper, pens and clipboards.
And then? It is talking to them and finding out what worked, what didn’t work, and what are we going to do differently next time.
Having a chatbot ask me about my experience is not nearly as helpful as the tech dudes would have you think.
Almost every liberal I have ever met, and I have met a LOT…I canvassed for Ted Kennedy, is under the erroneous assumption that the purity of the intention is enough to make up for a stunning lack of organization and the drawing power of people who are in it to win it.
It is not.
The purity of your intention simply means you can’t take yes for an answer.
It means you are impervious to best practices training.
It means that there is no continuous process improvement mindset.
Dems lose in Ohio for a reason. And the reason isn’t that our policy ideas suck. The reason is because there is no application of the boring AF process of operations and leadership.
I swear to the Flying Spaghetti Monster I am going to start a training program called “Leadership for Liberals…because good intentions are not good enough”. I’ve got YEARS of hard earned knowledge and training on leadership and lordy the times call for it now.
Leaders want their people to know that they are winning. Why? Because people like to win. When you make sure your people win, they are more happy to go out in the 85F heat with no trees anywhere, smile and say “please sign here”.
Winning at the ballot box STARTS with your boots on the ground people feeling like they are making a difference. Winning starts with your ground game people have clear management and reporting and metrics. Which means someone has to sit down and figure it out. I got to see it ONCE with the Yes on One folks (Marriage Equality in Maine) 10 years ago. You didn’t so much as get a button without getting an ask. You couldn’t talk to anyone without a 1 hour training. There remains no substitute for teaching someone with the EDGE method. Say what you will about Scouts, and there is A LOT to say about them, they are GOOD at the nitty gritty of teaching leadership.
As a Dem*, I am epically tired of losing at the state level. We can’t all live in the Northeast and California. We have to live and win where we are. But that winning is going to take some really hard work. I’m here for it, are you?
Ready?
*I am actually registered as an Independent for reasons that surpass understanding. I’ve been registered as a Dem my whole life and I suspect my registration was not accurately processed.