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Movements Begin with a Single Voice
Have you ever wondered what separates those who successfully create change from those who merely dream about it? Jennifer Dulski's "Purposeful" offers a compelling answer: ordinary people who take extraordinary action. This isn't just another leadership book-it's a practical roadmap for anyone seeking to mobilize others around a shared vision. Since its 2018 release, "Purposeful" has become required reading in social entrepreneurship programs at universities like Stanford and Harvard. Even Melinda Gates has praised it as "essential reading for anyone who wants to make a difference." What makes this book particularly powerful is Dulski's unique perspective-having led teams at both Facebook and Change.org, she bridges the worlds of tech innovation and social activism, demonstrating that the same principles apply whether you're building a movement or a business. In a world increasingly hungry for authentic leadership, Dulski's framework offers a refreshing alternative to top-down management styles that fail to inspire genuine commitment.
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The Power of Being First to Stand
Every significant movement in history began with someone willing to take the first step. Like the first person who starts clapping at a performance, creating change requires someone brave enough to stand alone before others join. Tiffany Shlain's film "50/50" captures this progression perfectly: social change moves "from the unthinkable, to the impossible, to the inevitable" through what resembles a standing ovation effect-beginning with just a few courageous individuals who inspire others until momentum becomes unstoppable.
This principle was powerfully demonstrated in 2013 when Erdem Gunduz stood motionless for eight hours in Istanbul's Taksim Square to protest police brutality. His solitary stance gradually attracted hundreds of fellow protesters and inspired the viral #duranadam (standing man) movement worldwide. Similarly, when Cornell University prevented women from coxing men's crew teams, one persistent student's questioning eventually led to a policy change that opened doors for countless female coxswains who now commonly lead men's teams based on their skill and suitability for the role.
What holds most people back from taking that first step? Social change expert Sara El-Amine identifies four main barriers: disbelief in our ability to succeed, lack of support, insufficient tools, and no funding. The most significant obstacle is the first-not believing in our own capacity to effect change. Hearing stories of ordinary people accomplishing extraordinary things helps us imagine ourselves making a difference too.
When facing challenges, we should ask "Why NOT me?" instead of "Why me?" This question determines whether we'll dare to improve the world or wait for others to act. It's the voice that empowers us to take that first step toward creating change, even when our legs are shaking. This mindset was exemplified by Sarah Kavanagh, a Mississippi teenager who became vegan at twelve and later discovered brominated vegetable oil (BVO) in Gatorade. Learning BVO contained bromine (also found in flame retardants) and was banned in over 100 countries, she started a Change.org petition asking Pepsi to remove it. Despite feeling she lacked authority as a teenager, her petition gathered 17,000 signatures in a month. Less than three months later, Pepsi announced they would remove BVO from Gatorade. Sarah then campaigned against BVO in Powerade, and ultimately both Pepsi and Coca-Cola removed it from all their drinks worldwide.
The most important thing is simply to start. Alli Webb began with a simple mobile blow-drying service called "Straight at Home," charging $40 per visit and traveling to clients' homes with a duffel bag of supplies. As demand grew, she faced a crossroads: expand or stay small? With her husband handling branding, brother managing business, and a friend designing their first store for equity, they created Drybar. What began as a single location has expanded to over seventy stores across North America with a successful product line. The movement grew from a powerful insight: when people look good, they feel good. Alli's initial small step created a nationwide movement-proving we all have the power to lead change by being the first to stand up and clap.
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Creating a Vision That Inspires Action
A compelling vision is the foundation of any successful movement. A vision represents your desired future, while purpose explains why that future matters. Marshall Ganz suggests creating a public narrative with three parts: a story of self (your personal purpose), a story of us (the community you want to join you), and a story of now (the urgency around acting quickly). The winning combination is a clearly articulated vision of your desired world, plus a clear purpose behind why that vision matters, plus compelling stories that bring your vision and purpose to life.
Personal stories give exponential impact to your vision by showing how it affects individuals. Hank Hunt's campaign exemplifies this power. After his daughter Kari was murdered in a hotel bathroom, her nine-year-old daughter tried calling 911 but couldn't get through because she didn't know to dial 9 first for an outside line. This devastating experience led Hank to campaign tirelessly for "Kari's Law," requiring hotels and businesses to enable direct 911 dialing. His granddaughter's words-"Papa, I tried four times and the telephone didn't work"-became the emotional core of his vision. Over 600,000 people signed his Change.org petition, leading major hotel chains to change their policies and ultimately resulting in federal legislation that President Trump signed into law in February 2018.
A crystal clear vision helps you adapt when your initial approach doesn't work. Chris Ategeka, who lost his parents to AIDS in Uganda and later his brother due to lack of medical access, was driven by a vision where every human being has access to quality healthcare. His strategy evolved multiple times as he learned more about the problem. First, he built motorbike ambulances to transport villagers to hospitals, only to discover there weren't enough doctors. Then he created mobile hospitals, but found the lines were too long. Finally, recognizing that "brain drain" was the fundamental obstacle, he established Health Access Corps to create paid fellowships for medical professionals in Africa. Despite changing strategies, his unwavering vision of healthcare access guided each pivot.
Once you have a compelling vision and clear purpose, you need a methodology to make it reality. The Theory of Change approach starts with your desired outcome and works backward to identify necessary preconditions. Unlike typical goal-setting, this method examines how goals relate to each other and to your end result, creating a hypothesis that A + B + C = D. Organizations like Project Superwomen use detailed Theory of Change models to map out how they'll achieve their vision of stable employment for domestic violence survivors.
While your vision may be deeply personal, attracting passionate supporters is essential for your movement to take off. These early, influential supporters are the kindling for your fire. As Derek Sivers illustrates in his TED talk, you don't have a movement until you have your first followers-they're leaders too, determining whether your cause succeeds. "Micro-influencers" with smaller but engaged followings can be more effective than celebrities, as Gretta Rose van Riel discovered when growing SkinnyMe Tea to $600,000 monthly sales within six months through strategic influencer marketing.
Jennifer Cardenas' story during Hurricane Harvey demonstrates how followers can become leaders themselves. When Jennifer created a simple Facebook group called "Hurricane Harvey 2017" to help friends keep track of each other's safety, it exploded to over 150,000 members within days. As the group grew, volunteers stepped forward to offer expertise and leadership-people who'd survived similar storms shared advice, others offered organizational tools, and many became moderators. Working alongside first responders, the Facebook community ultimately rescued over eight thousand people. When you articulate a clear, compelling vision of your desired future, you can successfully motivate others to join and eventually lead alongside you.
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Transforming Decision-Makers into Allies
Traditional social organizing often frames campaigns as David versus Goliath battles, where decision-makers are viewed as "targets" to be overcome. However, this approach may limit long-term success. Instead of viewing people in power as adversaries, we might achieve more by seeing them as potential partners and choosing tactics that encourage productive collaboration.
This doesn't mean abandoning traditional organizing methods like demonstrations, petitions, and boycotts-these remain effective ways to demonstrate passion and commitment. Rather, it suggests employing these tactics respectfully, leaving room for positive interaction. Dr. King's nonviolent principles, especially "Nonviolence seeks to defeat injustice, not people," remain relevant today. Decision-makers are typically in service roles, and reminding them of this can be effective. By reframing decision-makers as potential partners and understanding their motivations, we can create win-win scenarios.
Identifying the specific person with power to make your desired change is critical to success. Many campaigns fail by targeting generic or incorrect decision-makers (like petitioning "the president" for local issues). Your request must be something the decision-maker can actually accomplish within their authority. The magic happens when you find a pathway to change that appeals to both sides.
Understanding what motivates decision-makers is key to persuasion. Gemma Mortensen of Crisis Action demonstrated this when responding to Myanmar's 2007 crackdown on Buddhist monks. Rather than treating UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown as an adversary, they recognized his concern for Myanmar and worked collaboratively. They organized meetings between Brown and Burmese monks, trade union leaders, and former political prisoners, which moved him to publicly commit to EU sanctions. This partnership approach led to unprecedented action-the UN Security Council's first-ever statement on Myanmar and EU sanctions on timber, metals and gems imports.
The Boy Scouts campaign succeeded through coordinated efforts targeting BSA's influence network. Activists persuaded musicians like Carly Rae Jepsen and Train to boycott the Boy Scout Jamboree concert and leveraged the BSA's organizational structure by launching 110 local petitions demonstrating the diverse community concerned about the issue. Just over a year after Jennifer Tyrrell's initial petition, the BSA voted to end the ban on gay Scouts in May 2013, followed by lifting the ban on gay Scout leaders in July 2015.
Voices with direct relevance to an issue can be particularly persuasive. Thirteen-year-old Tessa Hill and Lia Valente tackled rape culture through their eighth-grade project in Ontario, creating a documentary called "Allegedly" and launching a "We Give Consent" petition that gained 40,000 signatures. Their voices carried special weight because they were students who would participate in the revised curriculum. Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne ultimately included consent education in Ontario's sex education curriculum, demonstrating the power of relevant voices.
Sometimes persuading decision-makers simply requires a well-placed ask. Saira Rao and Carey Albertine, founders of In This Together Media, applied this principle when launching their Soccer Sisters book series in 2012. Despite having no money or track record, they boldly emailed Olympic soccer star Brandi Chastain's manager about becoming a spokesperson. To their surprise, Chastain agreed to support them for free because she believed in their mission of creating diverse children's books.
Making it easy for decision-makers to say "yes" is another powerful strategy. Amanda Nguyen, an astronaut-in-training and rape survivor, founded Rise after discovering Massachusetts would destroy her rape kit evidence after just six months unless she repeatedly fought to preserve it. Her team meticulously prepared for every potential objection from lawmakers, drafting bill language, gathering data, and creating financial projections showing both moral and fiscal benefits. Their Sexual Assault Survivors' Rights Act passed unanimously in Congress in October 2016-an extraordinary achievement considering only 0.016 percent of bills since 1989 have passed unanimously through both chambers.
From analyzing thousands of Change.org campaigns, five predictable stages emerge in how decision-makers respond: denial, listening, acceptance, embracing, and empowering. Understanding these stages helps activists be more persuasive by showing decision-makers the risks of denial and benefits of listening and action. In the final empowering stage, the process flips as decision-makers empower their customers to advocate on their behalf-as Virgin America did when they launched a petition asking customers to support them getting gates at Dallas Love Field airport.
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The Art of Inspiring Your Team
Leading a movement requires inspiring and empowering your team. While movements often have charismatic leaders, they succeed only when everyone feels invested and trusted to carry the cause forward. Building a movement means motivating every individual on your team to fight for the cause.
As a college crew team coxswain, Dulski learned that motivating both the whole team and each individual rower required different approaches. She developed the Motivational Pie Chart tool after a team member told her she was motivated solely by money, not recognition. The tool asks team members to list what motivates them, assign percentage weightings, and color-code their current satisfaction levels. After using this with thousands of people, three common motivational factors emerged: purpose (meaningful work), growth (learning and challenges), and connection (working with respected teammates).
Meaningful purpose is essential both for launching movements and inspiring teams. Purpose serves as a powerful motivator that can bridge differences and unite people behind a common cause. After 19-year-old Ozgecan Aslan was brutally murdered in Turkey, Gozde Salur started a petition for "Ozgecan's Law" to prevent reduced sentences for violence against women. Despite Turkey's political divisions, 1.2 million people from diverse backgrounds united behind this cause, becoming the country's largest Change.org campaign ever.
Effective leaders keep purpose front and center through storytelling. Neil Grimmer of Plum Organics ended weekly meetings with "The Love Bomb"-sharing customer stories about the company's impact on families. At Change.org, videos from petition starters were shared during global team calls, creating emotional connections between staff and users. Measuring impact is also crucial for team inspiration. When fundraisers spoke directly with scholarship recipients, their call lengths increased 142% and donations rose 171%. People need to see their work matters.
One counterintuitive way to motivate teams is through continuous challenge. The Pygmalion Effect demonstrates how high expectations improve performance. Harvard researcher Robert Rosenthal proved this when teachers were told certain randomly selected students would be "bloomers"-those students' IQs actually improved significantly over eight months. Leaders who genuinely believe in their teams create self-fulfilling prophecies of success.
The 90/10 decision-making model empowers team members to make roughly 90% of decisions independently while 10% require approval. At Change.org, this was implemented through a "traffic light" system: 90% green decisions (make independently), 5% red (require approval), and 5% yellow (check with manager). This structure creates clarity that helps people feel trusted while maintaining a common language for decision-making discussions.
Diverse teams deliver superior performance through different skills, backgrounds, experiences, and demographic traits. Decades of research show diverse teams drive better innovation, financial results, growth rates, and even scientific outcomes. When people with different perspectives challenge our thinking, we grow beyond our comfort zones.
After establishing meaningful purpose and growth opportunities, building strong connections is the third critical element of inspiring teams. Google's two-year study found psychological safety-team members feeling safe to take risks and be vulnerable-is a top factor in high-performing teams. While toughness seems essential for leadership, vulnerability often creates stronger connections and impact. John Feal exemplifies this through his advocacy for 9/11 responders after losing part of his foot during cleanup work. By acknowledging his own vulnerability and need for help, he made it safe for others to do the same.
Compassion is a critical leadership skill. Change.org's "Assume the best" principle counters the "Fundamental Attribution Error"-our tendency to attribute others' negative actions to character flaws rather than circumstances. By assuming positive intent and using what Brene Brown calls the "hypothesis of generosity," leaders can build stronger relationships with less conflict.
Building stronger teams starts with building authentic relationships. Techniques like "Lifelines" (small group sharing of key life moments), "Storytelling" (sharing meaningful personal stories), and "Appreciations" (dedicated time for team members to express specific appreciation for each other) create deeper connections between colleagues. Despite skepticism, these relationship-building techniques work in all organizations, from tech companies to traditional businesses.
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Turning Criticism into Advantage
When you're trying to create change, criticism is inevitable-especially if you're successful. As Scott Stratten warns, "Don't feed the trolls; you are not a jackass whisperer." Whether you're building a company, writing laws, or launching programs, criticism comes with the territory. As Jeff Bezos notes, "If you absolutely can't tolerate critics, then don't do anything new or interesting."
Two distinct types of criticism exist: genuine constructive feedback that can help you improve, and commentary from "haters" meant to drag you down. Research shows our brains have a negativity bias-we react more strongly to small amounts of negative information than larger amounts of positive information. By thinking positively and practicing gratitude, we can actively shift this ratio and reduce our fight-or-flight reaction to criticism.
One powerful way to overcome criticism is building enough positivity around you to dwarf negative reactions. Merna Forster, who successfully campaigned to put a woman on Canadian currency, faced harsh criticism including sexist attacks. Rather than getting discouraged, she printed out supportive petition comments and carried them with her. "The fact that people can post their reasons for signing was one of the best things about the whole process," she said. "All of a sudden, you're not alone anymore." Her persistence paid off when in 2016, the Canadian finance minister announced that Viola Desmond, a black businesswoman who sparked Canada's civil rights movement, would be featured on the $10 bill.
In today's digital world, anyone in the public eye should prepare for both genuine feedback and trolling. Thirteen-year-old McKenna Pope experienced this firsthand when she petitioned Hasbro to market its Easy-Bake Oven in gender-neutral colors. After successfully convincing the company to create unisex designs in black, silver, and blue, she faced unexpected online hatred. McKenna handled this by first taking control-reading mean tweets during her TED talk to demonstrate her power-and then learning to let it go. She repeated the mantra "Haters gonna hate" and encouraged others to "Let your haters hate, and make your change."
Some entrepreneurs turn skepticism into motivation. Kara Goldin transformed dismissal of her Hint Water idea into determination. When a beverage executive said "Sweetie, Americans love sweet. And this will never be a large company," she saw opportunity rather than discouragement. Twelve years later, Hint Water grew into a $100 million company, expanding beyond beverages into products like paraben-free sunscreen.
Mary Lou Jepsen, a renowned technical innovator, learned to transform criticism into advantage. When developing the one-hundred-dollar solar-powered laptop at One Laptop per Child, she faced skepticism from major Asian tech executives who laughed at her ideas. Rather than becoming defensive, she pulled out a notebook and asked them to explain why her project wouldn't work. They listed twenty-three problems, seventeen of which she'd already solved. The remaining six provided valuable insights. By returning months later with solutions, she turned critics into unwitting advisors.
The "Bear Hug" approach to criticism involves responding to attacks with overwhelming love and understanding. When a Spanish computer scientist attacked Change.org by adding fake signatures to petitions, instead of a technical counterattack, the communications VP flew to Spain to meet him personally. By listening to the spammer's concerns and explaining their fraud prevention systems, they transformed an adversary into an ally.
When receiving criticism, we should remember Ken Blanchard's wisdom: "Even the best athletes in the world have coaches." Instead of getting upset at feedback, we should embrace our inner professional athlete. Great coaches don't necessarily outperform their athletes-Michael Jordan's coach wasn't better at three-pointers, and Serena Williams's coach doesn't have a better serve-but they offer valuable perspective that improves performance.
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Persisting Through Inevitable Obstacles
Leadership in movements resembles mountain climbing with dramatic shifts between two states: either you're near the summit on a sunny day with a picnic lunch, or at the bottom during a brewing storm with a heavy pack, unsure if you'll reach the top. These conditions constantly alternate-the key is believing you'll experience more sunny days than cloudy ones and continuing to climb regardless of conditions.
Success comes from persisting through both types of days while inspiring your team to join you. Expect cloudy days, prepare for them, and don't linger too long during sunny periods. Ben Silbermann, Pinterest's founder, describes this leadership experience as "the intersection between terror and joy." Recognizing that all leaders face similar challenges helps us feel less alone.
The premise of any significant achievement is that failures must precede success; if something doesn't warrant failures along the way, it's probably not challenging enough. As F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote, "You mustn't confuse a single failure with a final defeat." Or in Rocky Balboa's words: "It ain't about how hard you hit. It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward."
Once we accept that failure is part of the journey, we must maximize what we learn from it. Don't just casually note "that didn't work"-dig deeper to understand exactly what failed and why. For maximum benefit, share these insights widely, especially with others tackling similar problems. Thomas Edison exemplified this approach, reportedly saying, "I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work." His West Orange laboratory-the first true R&D facility-embodied the "fail fast" mentality now common in innovation hubs.
At Change.org, they destigmatized failure through their "Festival of Failure" initiative. Each team adapted this concept to their workflow-some discussed failures in weekly calls, while engineers included failure demos alongside their regular work demos. These festivals highlighted failures as learning opportunities without shame, recognizing that ambitious work inevitably includes setbacks.
When the mountain feels high, remember you don't have to climb alone. Olga Rybkovskaya, who successfully petitioned Russia's Ministry of Health to allow family visits in intensive care units, marshaled her petition signers into a volunteer force. She created a Facebook group where thirty volunteer lawyers drafted new proposed guidelines and directives-a powerful extension of her campaign.
Partners are the ultimate allies. Amy Norman and Stella Ma cofounded Little Passports in 2008 after meeting as category managers at eBay. Together as co-CEOs, they built Little Passports with the mission to raise a generation of global citizens through subscription products that teach children about different countries. Their partnership, dividing responsibilities according to their strengths while making major decisions together, helped them overcome obstacles like funding shortages and inventory disputes. This partnership has driven Little Passports to over $30 million in revenue.
Research shows that sharing goals with others significantly increases achievement rates. A 2015 study found that over 70% of participants who sent weekly updates to friends successfully accomplished their goals, compared to just 35% of those who kept goals to themselves. This accountability principle works for everything from fitness goals to business objectives.
Many movements and businesses succeed through sheer determination and hard work. Creating something from nothing requires sweat equity and scrappiness, especially when resources are limited. Most successful ventures start with humble beginnings. As Drybar co-founder Michael Landau says, "Do not let 'perfect' get in the way of progress. Everything involved in growing a business is hard, but you have to just plow down, and get shit done."
Sometimes the obstacles themselves hold the greatest value. Carol Dweck's research shows people with fixed mindsets believe traits are givens and talent alone determines success, while those with growth mindsets see qualities as developable through dedication. This mindset difference extends to organizations too. Growth-mindset companies encourage appropriate risk-taking, reward valuable lessons even from failed projects, support collaboration over competition, and commit genuinely to every member's development.
When facing major obstacles, it helps to find people who thrive in crisis situations. At Change.org, they reframed challenges as "Fun!TM" -not to minimize serious situations, but to focus on solutions and learning opportunities. Crisis management expert Brooke Buchanan expressed this perfectly: "For some reason I love running into the fire." Finding people who excel in challenging moments and can teach others to rise to difficulties is invaluable.
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The Ripple Effect of Purposeful Action
We may never know all the ways our actions affect others, but even the smallest gestures can inspire. When asked who inspired them, the movement starters interviewed could instantly name those who made a difference-actions and words showing they could tackle huge problems and create change. Yet few had told these people about their impact.
This should push us to do two things: First, think more about our impact on others-be kind and encouraging in both big and small interactions, as we never know whom we might inspire. Second, reach out to those who've inspired us to let them know-not only strengthening relationships but reinforcing inspirational behavior.
The point isn't knowing whether we've had impact. What matters is living a life in pursuit of positive impact: a life of purpose, service, and hope. We've seen the power from those who start movements and from those who support them-creating purpose-driven companies, new approaches within organizations, and policies that create a better world.
Movements don't require special talents or extraordinary circumstances-they require ordinary people willing to take the first step. Whether starting a petition, building a company, or simply standing up for what's right in your community, the principles remain the same: clarify your vision, understand those with power to make change, inspire others to join you, handle criticism constructively, and persist through inevitable obstacles.
The most powerful movements often start with the smallest actions-a single signature, a Facebook post, a question that challenges the status quo. These seemingly minor steps can cascade into transformative change when fueled by clear purpose and unwavering commitment. As Margaret Mead famously said, "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."
Now it's your turn.
