In this monologue, Nell Derick Debevoise outlines a three‑tier framework for what makes an effective individual activist, drawing on Marshall Ganz’s “me‑to‑we‑to‑the‑world” model. She first examines the inner, personal qualities activists need: ego management, genuine personal belief, courage, stamina, resilience, disciplined self‑care (nutrition, sleep, exercise, social support), and self‑efficacy—the belief that one can make a difference. She then moves to the interpersonal “we” level, emphasizing curiosity, fluid adaptability to rapid change, and empathy as essential for engaging with others. Finally, she discusses the “world” level of coalition‑building, urging activists to bridge across differences rather than only aligning with like‑minded peers, and to develop the learned skill of creating inclusive, passionate alliances. Throughout, she reflects on the role of personal transformation, the potential innate pluralism of humans, and the need for these skills to be taught and rewarded in educational and professional systems.
Chapters
So we break it down sort of the Marshall Ganz me to we to the world, right, into kind of 3 categories. And so when you sent this question around of, you know, what makes an effective individual activist, I think of the inner, you know, what are the me factors that we individually need to have. And I think of that, I couldn't agree more with that notion that Rudy talked about of the personal transformation that we're all having to go through. And so, you ego management is just the first step, right? I think coming to terms with our ego and what that means and how to get beyond that. I think personal belief is really critical, right? Maybe sort of an obvious one for an activist, but you have to truly believe in whatever you're doing. I think in this world of multiple narratives, it's easy to just kind of glom onto something without having done the work of why you feel passionately about that or having a personal experience with it. You know, certainly things I think that we think of around courage, stamina, resilience. This is hard work to be doing right now, and it's not going to be obvious. So I think all of that is really important and comes from a very solid self-care practice, right? We need to be in touch with what sustains us, from eating green things to sleeping to physical exercise to social, you know, all of that is sort of unsexy but really fundamental. And I think a final piece that's really important is self-efficacy, of, you know, this notion from psychology that you believe that you can have a difference. Because again, in the world of today, when there's all kinds of crazy things going on, it can be easy to feel small or ineffective in the face of great complexity and confusion. And to Rich's point, I don't know, it is a very interesting one to think about, is plurality, pluralism innate or not? I would suggest that maybe we actually teach it out of us in our industrial complex education system. I don't know that it's not born in. I think we actually might be born better than we think, and we just work it out of ourselves. But that maybe is our next podcast topic. And then just continuing that, you know, so I talked a bit about the inner, the personal skills, moving to those outer, the we part of it, of how you need to be facing other people. I think curiosity is huge here. As the world changes so fast, if you're kind of rigid and set in what you're trying to achieve, I don't think that has very wonderful results for anyone. And so carrying from that, this notion of kind of fluidity and adaptability, right, and understanding how to move with the times. And then the final level of the interpersonal, right, so not just looking external, but now as you're interacting with other people, empathy is something that, you know, is talked about a fair amount these days. And again, I think could be taught better or rewarded better in our academic and professional systems. And then this notion of coalition building, right? I think absolutely there's an amazing moment to, you know, what I talked about as have your all, and Rudy mentioned this idea of individual self-authoring, or Steve as well, which is real, but, and we can't simply be individual atoms, right, in the system. We need to link and build coalitions across difference, which isn't always easy, right? It's very easy to kind of link arms with the people who look like you and grew up like you and have these same ideas. But to have the empathy to cross a bridge and interact with different folks and then come to a happy medium, and then to act passionately and hard for it is a learned skill. So yeah, that's the kind of me-to-we-to-the-world set of skills that we think about and see with individual activists.
