#ShePersisted

Have you ever been silenced?  Were you given a warning and an explanation? If you were anything like Elizabeth Warren, you nevertheless persisted. On Tuesday, February 7^th 2016, Elizabeth Warren took to the Senate Floor to read a 1986 letter by Coretta Scott King (activist and wife of Martin Luther King Jr.) in opposition of Jeff Sessions. She did not get far into the letter before Senate Majority Leader Mitchell McConnell formally silenced her, stating a little known rule ( rule XIX ) that prohibited senators from insulting other senators. 

In case you’re curious, the rule originated in 1902 after senators were throwing punches at each other.   But hey, reading a thought-provoking, relevant testimonial written by a civil rights leader is basically the same thing right?!

She may have been stopped from sharing the letter within the Senate Floor, but Senator Warren would not be stopped from sharing it with an even larger audience---the public! When the Senate voted to silence her, Warren sat outside of the senate hearing and read the letter live on Facebook---capturing an audience of over 6 million viewers.

                                                                           

If you have been on Facebook within the past week, you likely have seen the hash tag #ShePersisted and #LetLizSpeak, as the silencing of Senator Warren ignited a feminist battle cry on social media. This is a great example of “when political candidates get their supporters riled up and spreading the word, we call it “energizing the base” (Li & Bernoff, 2011, 55).  Bernoff & Li (2011) explain that energizing the base is a powerful way to use the groundswell to boost your business. Although it was McConnell who helped start this conversation in his attempt to silence Warren, his actions have inspired tremendous support for Warren.

Check out the many memes of powerful women who persisted. 

Trevor Noah interviewed Warren the next day (see above) and asked if McConnell knows how much he has helped her. Warren explained that, “It’s helped us have a better Democratic conversation. [...] We don’t have the votes in the United States Senate to block somebody like Jeff Sessions[as attorney general]. ... So what we’ve got to do is count on people all around this country to make their voices heard.”

Brodeur (2017) funnily describes, If ever a hashtag was handed down perfectly formed from the Internet gods themselves, #ShePersisted was it.  To his point,  the phrase has already lead to the production of “she persisted” t-shirts which will help fund Elizabeth Warren’s 2018 re-election. 

Similarly, Reebok released shirts  following the McConnell silencing. And guess what? As of today they are already SOLD OUT. Rest assured though, they are making more to meet the high demand.

Inga Stenta, Reebok senior director of brand management expressed, "We are inspired and empowered by the senator's recent statements and these t-shirts are our way of showing our support for all women who continue to persist and break down barriers."  What’s even better….Reebok is donating $20 from each shirt sold during the first 100 days of Trump's term to the to the Women's March campaign. 

In a similar vein, Harvard book store created a she-persisted display.  And as I am writing this post, more and more #ShePersisted swag (like the necklace below) is popping up in my newsfeed (Facebook clearly knows what I'm thinking about!) 

Although Jeff Sessions was selected as U.S. Attorney General, revealing the limits to social media, the conversation that was launched and the monetary support pouring in to both Warren’s re-election campaign and the women’s march sheds light on the its power. Warren took the conversation to a much larger stage, empowering more citizens to voice their opinions. It is a reminder that we must all continue to persist towards the outcomes we want.  Once again we see that when you try to silence the groundswell, it roars back exponentially louder.

Groundswell: Friend or Foe? Depends….ask Uber & Lyft!

With the birth of the Internet and the rise of social media, came a great force bringing power back to the people: the Groundswell. Li and Bernoff (2011) define the groundswell as “a social trend in which people use technologies to get the things they need from each other, rather than from traditional institutions like corporations” (Li & Bernoff, 2011, p. 9).   

Webster diction defines a ground swell as “a broad deep undulation of the ocean caused by an often distant gale or seismic disturbance.” While people may be “distant” from a company, together, they become a huge force like a crashing wave.  Groundswell represents a shift in power in which the people, not corporations, are in control. Ignoring the power of groundswell can break a company, yet making an effort to understand and tap into it can help companies thrive.

In a recent example, groundswell helped to punish and promote transportation companies, based on their responses to Trump's Executive order. When Trump announced an Executive Order banning Muslims from entering the United States, the New York Taxi Workers Alliance went on strike, avoiding the JFK airport in protest of the ban;  Lyft donated 1 million to the American Civil Liberties Union, and Uber went on with business as usual---announcing that they were “lifting the surgeprice, which may create longer wait times." 

Consumers immediately picked up on Ubers ambivalence and started the hashtag #deleteuber. In response to the outcry of consumers and negatively publicity, Uber made an announcement that they would be ensuring compensation for those affected by the ban. I was intrigued and happy to see one more example of Groundwell and consumer voices pushing for positive corporate actions. Lyft’s actions are both doing good for the community and building a positive relationship with consumers. In fact, days after the Executive Order  Lyft ranked as the #6 free app - ahead of YouTube, Messenger, Facebook, Google Maps, Netflix, Spotify, Pinterest, Amazon, Twitter, Pandora and Uber. 

How do you befriend the Groundswell?

Although technology inevitably is a defining characteristic of social media and makes it possible for information to spread quickly, Li & Bernoff strongly emphasize that relationships are the more important aspect of the groundswell. Technology is always changing.  As Li & Bernoff describe, “technology is shifting so quickly—chasing it is like trying to jump on a speeding merry-go-round” (Li & Bernoff, 2011, p.67).

So rather than put energy into learning the ever changing technology, investing energy in studying relationships will prove more fruitful.  

In the groundswell relationships are everything 

(Li & Bernoff, 2011).

Li & Bernoff offer tips for befriending the groundswell, such as POST, “the foundation of groundswell thinking—a systematic framework for assembling your plan” (Li & Bernoff (2011), 67).POST is an easy acronym to remember given the association with social media “posts.” Li and Bernoff (2011) explain that POST stands for….

People. What are your customers ready for?

Objectives. What are your goals?

Strategy. How do you want relationships with your customers to change?

Technology. What applications should you build?

All the above are important questions to ask when understanding and befriending the groundswell and helping your business to thrive. 

Have you used the groundswell to your advantage? 

Love Trumps Hate: The Women's March Then and Now

On January 21^st, 2017 I witnessed the power of groundswell and resistance through participating in the women’s march. A native of Maine, I took to Portland, Maine to march among a band of social justice advocates fighting in solidarity for human rights. 

I currently live in Boston and I truly wish that I could have been in two places at once, but thanks to the power of social media I was moved to see cities all over the world marching in solidarity.  Resistance is an act of love.

As I stood at the top of Munjoy hill surrounded by fired up people and a sea of social justice signs, I was struck by a wave of emotions: pride, shock, anger, sadness, fear, confusion and an overwhelming sense of empowerment. I felt energized to be a small part of this movement and rejuvenated to see how many others believe in equality.

For the first time since gaining the right to vote, the presidential election ended in an outcome that I did not want. I realized how lucky my young adult life had been to have had a progressive president who did so much to move our nation forward. It was the first time I had marched following an election and it made me wonder what it was like for the many women’s rights advocates in previous generations to unite as a whole.

Social media played a huge role in generating one of the largest protest marches in Maine and uniting advocates all across the globe. Speaking personally, I checked event pages on Facebook to easily find the logistics of where the marches were taking place and to see if any of my other friends were participating. I noticed other Facebook friends posting statuses that asked who else would be marching. It’s easier than ever to connect and create coalitions.

I was curious to learn more about how advocates communicated in previous generations to generate momentum and turn out for marches.  This past weekend, I watched the documentary She’s Beautiful When She’s Angry, which show cased the women’s marches that took place in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Interestingly, in those years, advocates used pamphlets and position papers to communicate issues of inequality. Notably, in 1969 Alta started the Shameless Hussy Press and in the early 1970s Gloria Steinem's help to co-found Ms. Magazine, as a way to contribute media for women by women. 

It was striking to see how many issues in the 1970s march---such as the right to choose when to give birth, equal work for equal pay, and violence against women----are still prevalent in today’s marches.  Although it is disheartening to see much of women’s progress set backwards, the millions of people marching for justice is uplifting. It is encouraging that social media makes it exponentially easier to connect than it was in the 1970s.