Attention Activists: If you want to win, study what winners do! | Mickey Z.

Photo credit: Ryan McGuire

Mickey Z. -- World News Trust

Feb. 6, 2017

So far in 2017, I’ve:

• Detailed why activism must be rebuilt from the ground up
• Explained why tactics like marching make things worse
• Provided a blueprint for creating sustainable social change

This time around, I’m here to offer some valuable insights into how we get started. To do that, I will share this list of 20 essential questions the successful folks of Corporate America ask before they embark on any new project:

1. What are the objectives? 
2. How do you define success?
3. If the project doesn't succeed, what are the implications?
4. Why is this project so important?
5. What are the most important dates?
6. What are the most important decisions that need to be made? 
7. What will prevent us from making those decisions?
8. What are the biggest obstacles to getting this done?
9. Who influences but doesn't own? 
10. Who has the potential to be an obstacle?
11. What are the project's greatest assets?
12. How can we best leverage those assets?
13. What are the most important areas we should always focus on?
14. How much risk are you willing to take to accomplish this?
15. What barriers have you encountered in the past about this issue?
16. What keeps you up at night about this?
17. What topics haven't we discussed? 
18. What topics would you rather not discuss?
19. What is your personal passion about this project? 
20. What will this mean to you when we succeed?

Here are five follow-up questions of my own, directed at “activists”: 

• Have you ever heard even one of the above questions honestly asked with your circles? 
• What kind of reaction would you get if you proposed such questions?
• Have you attained any long term success with your actions?
• What are you willing to do right now to become successful?
• Are you willing to surrender the purity litmus tests so you and your comrades can learn how to win -- even from those you strongly disagree with?

Activist Tip: Success leaves clues. Study how winners win. Start winning.

#DeOccupyUtopia

Mickey Z. is currently writing two books, a political memoir called How to Change Minds & Influence the Future: Rebuilding Activism From the Ground Up (Microcosm Publishing) and a graphic novel entitled stain red. In the meantime, he can be found here.

Attention Activists: If you want to win, study what winners do! by Mickey Z. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at https://worldnewstrust.com/attention-activists-if-you-want-to-win-study-what-winners-do-mickey-z.