Why Your Squad is so Important
“We cannot talk about achieving social change and certainly not movement building, without talking about power.” - Just Associates
If we aim to be the change we wish to see in the world, we have to get comfortable with power.
And particularly for women or marginalized identities, we have been conditioned that power is akin to domination, oppression.
But that is only one type of power: power-over. Using positional power, the power of social norms, the power of institutions that can manage access to information.
(h/t: all of these sources of power are from Just Associates, which I found through Brené Brown’s work and Kelly Diels’s course).
But there are other forms of power: power within, power with, power to, and power for.
Power within ourselves.
Power with others.
Power to change, power to others.
Power for the combined vision of the world.
What’s the takeaway? That true power really IS in the squad.
Power is in the communities of care that we build.
The relationships that we cultivate.
Being generous in times of plenty and open to receiving in times with less.
Giving a little bit so that everyone has a lot.
So how do we access this transformational power?
We set aside intentional time to form deep relationships, the ones that support us when the times get tough.
We make and maintain connections outside of our inner circle, our “weak ties” that have access to information and opportunities that we wouldn’t see.
We learn to embrace the vulnerability of the ask and the openness to receive. We acknowledge that we truly aren’t designed to do life alone.
We give within our means to do so.
We use the safety that comes from sharing deep space with likeminded individuals to take on more than we could have otherwise imagined.