Teju Ravilochan, the founder of GatherFor, returns to the podcast — and in a big way!
GatherFor is an organization that fosters community support and mutual aid among neighbors as a means of improving their lives and coming together for massive cultural, political, and social change. Their work challenges our culture's individualistic mindset by promoting a culture of reciprocity and mutual support.
Teju's belief in the inherent social nature of humans and the power of community is not just theoretical. He has put these principles into action, allowing neighbors to transform a neglected public housing development in New York City.
Here's a link to the story, from GatherFor's Medium account.
TLDR:
Faced with residents' frustrations over the lack of repairs and support from the housing authority, Teju and his team used a unique approach to bridge the divide between the residents and the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA).
Instead of fostering an adversarial dynamic, their approach was rooted in appreciation and acknowledgement. The neighbors announced a “kindness party” to celebrate the timely completion of repairs — some of which had been ignored for almost three decades!
This shift in tone led to a collaborative and productive environment, resulting in faster response to repair requests and improved communication between residents and NYCHA. And the promised party was a celebration of that success, complete with media presence and good food and drink.
I loved the story, and I had a problem with it: it smacked of fawning, at best a manipulative technique and at worst an expression and reifier of a traumatic lack of agency. I put that to Teju, and his response blew my mind.
True power comes from being seen and valued for who we are, rather than amassing wealth or military force. The ability to reject your opponent's narrative, to choose to play a different game, is a fundamental expression of power rather than a capitulation.
Teju also discussed the resilience that can be found in experiences of oppression and marginalization, and how all of us can benefit when we open the doors of power to those who have until now been denied its use.
Upon reflection, the theme of power is central to the conversation. Reju emphasized the importance of reconnecting to oneself, community, and the Earth, given how the dominator structures work to disconnect people from these sources of power.
In the face of environmental issues and social injustices, Teju advocates for the power of community and collective care. He encourages kindness and forgiveness as acts of power and resistance, and emphasizes the need for imagination and creativity in finding sustainable solutions and healing connections to self, community, and the Earth.
Teju's perspective is essential for anyone interested in community building, social justice, and transformative narratives. His work serves as an inspiration and a call to action to harness the power of community – and kindness and compassion – in addressing the challenges we face.
Links
GatherFor.org
GatherFor.medium.org
Teju's first appearance on Plant Yourself
Pedagogy of the Oppressed, by Paolo Freire
Dr Howie Jacobson
This podcast is a labor of love and a way to give back to the world that has given me so much. That's why there aren't any sponsors (except me :).
My day job is helping leaders and their teams master their mindsets to remove all obstacles to heart-centered high performance.
Here are three gigs that I do:
1. Executive and Senior Leadership Mentoring and Facilitation
I work with high performing executive teams in organizations — and executive teams that need to become high performing. My focus is mindset mastery, because it’s our mindsets that either support high performance or get in the way.
At this level, everyone’s got the skills and experience to excel and contribute at the highest level. What holds people back is mindset stuff: specifically the triggers that get them out of creative engagement and into fight-or-flight defensiveness.
My practice is all about teaching people to respond differently to those triggers by updating old maps — essentially removing the glitches that the triggers grab onto.
2. Executive Coaching: Quick Wins for High Performance
I work with individual executives and leaders, one on one. The program is called Quick Wins for High Performance, and what we do is, we work strategically on one or two areas that are holding you back and keeping you from performing at your best.
We reverse engineer the presenting problems — too much work and not enough time, underperforming employees and teams, maddening organizational inefficiencies, etc — and identify and rewire the suboptimal mindsets that are behind those problems.
The work is all about updating your mental maps so your actions and responses are always appropriate, proportionate, and strategic.
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I help small business teams have high stakes conversations with skill, humor, and grace. When people feel safe, they can do their best, most creative, most collaborative work.
So that's what I do. If you'd like any of those results, drop me a line and tell me about yourself.
You CAN Change Other People!
Well, that's what Peter Bregman and I claim in our provocative book of that title.
What we really mean is, you can bring out the best in the people around you. If you think you're powerless to help people change, it's because you've been going about it the wrong way.
Discover our straightforward, replicable process here: You Can Change Other People.
Music
The Plant Yourself Podcast theme music, “Dance of Peace (Sabali Don),” is generously provided by Will Ridenour, a kora player from North Carolina who has trained with top Senegalese musicians.
It can be found on his first CD, titled Will Ridenour.
You can learn about Will, listen to more tracks, and buy music on his website, WillRidenour.com.
Gratitudes
Thanks to Plant Yourself podcast patrons – Kim Harrison – Lynn McLellan – Brittany Porter – Dominic Marro – Barbara Whitney – Tammy Black – Amy Good – Amanda Hatherly – Mary Jane Wheeler – Ellen Kennelly – Melissa Cobb – Rachel Behrens – Tina Scharf – Tina Ahern – Jen Vilkinofsky – David Byczek – Michele X – Elspeth Feldman – Leah Stolar – Allan Kristensen – Colleen Peck – Michele Landry – Jozina – Sara Durkacs – Kelly Cameron – Janet Selby – Claire Adams – Tom Fronczak – Jeannette Benham – Gila Lacerte – David Donohue – Blair Seibert – Doron Avizov – Gio and Carolyn Argentati – Jodi Friesner – Mischa Rosen – Michael Worobiec – AvIvA Lael – Alicia Lemus – Val Linnemann – Nick Harper – Bandana Chawla – Molly Levine – The Inscrutable Harry R – Susan Laverty the Panda Vegan – Craig Covic – Adam Scharf – Karen Bury – Heather Morgan – Nigel Davies – Marian Blum – Teresa Kopel – Julian Watkins – Brid O'Connell – Shannon Herschman – Linda Ayotte – Holm Hedegaard – Isa Tousignant – Connie Haneline – Erin Greer – Alicia Davis – Heather O'Connor – Carollynne Jensen – Sheri Orlekoski of Plant Powered for Health – Karen Smith – Scott Mirani – Karen and Joe Crabtree – Kirby Burton – Theresa Carrell – Kevin Macaulay – Elizabeth Rothschild – Ann Jesse – Sheryl Dwyer – Jenny Hazelton – Peter W Evans – Dennis Bird – Darby Kelly – Lori Fanney – Linnea Lundquist – Emily Iaconelli – Levi Wallach – Rosamonde McAtee – Dan Pokorney – Stephen Leinin – Patty DeMartino – Mike and Donna Kartz – Deanne Bishop – Bilberry Elf – Marjorie Lewis – Tricia Adams – Nancy Sheldon – Lindsey Bashore – Gunn Marit Hagen – Tracey Gulledge – Lara Hedin – Meg from Mamasezz – Stacey Stokes – Ben Savage – Michael K – David Hughes -Coni Rodgers – Claire England – Sally Robertson – Parham Ganchi – Amy Dailey – Brian Tourville – Mark Jeffrey Johnson – Josie Dempsey – Caryn Schmitt – Pamela Hayden – Emily Perryman – Allison Corbett – Richard Stone – Lauren Vaught of Edible Musings – Erin Hastey – Sean Owens – Sagar Naik – Erika Piedra – Danielle Roberts – Michael Leuchten – Sarah Johnson – Katharine Floyd – Meryl Fury – for your generous support of the podcast.
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