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People Don’t Need Heroes- They Need Pathways
What's been happening in Minnesota has been heavy to witness. In moments like this, a lot of people feel the same tension: a real desire to do something, paired with uncertainty about what that something should be—or fear of getting it wrong. Paralysis can set in, not because people don't care, but because they care deeply and the stakes feel high.
What often changes that dynamic isn't a perfect plan or a singular voice. It's movement.
There's a TED Talk by Derek Sivers that I return to often, about how movements actually start. Not with a lone hero—but with the first follower. The person who sees someone step forward and decides to join them. That act transforms individual courage into collective action.
The first follower matters because they make action feel possible. They turn risk into something shared. They make a pathway visible.
People don't need heroes so much as they need pathways.
I've noticed that when people ask, "What can I do?" they're rarely asking for the right answer. They're asking for a starting point.
Sometimes sharing your own imperfect progress—where you showed up, what you tried, what you're still figuring out—isn't about influence or validation. It's about lowering the activation energy for someone else to act.
That idea has stayed with me, partly because of my years as a history teacher trying to help students unlearn the "Great Person" model of history—the version where change happens because one extraordinary individual appears, fully formed, and alters the course of events alone. It's a compelling story. It's also incomplete.
History moves when people move together. When one person acts, another follows, and others realize they don't have to wait for perfection or permission. Leadership spreads.
We tend to overestimate how much clarity is required before action, and underestimate how much clarity emerges through action. Because someone went first.
So whether you're thinking about what's happening in the world right now, or something closer to home—on your team, in your organization, in your community—it's worth pausing to consider:
Where might people be waiting, not for answers, but for a visible example?
Where has the hero narrative kept you waiting instead of participating?
How could you make movement more copyable for someone else?
The first follower turns courage into action. And action, shared, is how things begin to change.
Places to Donate
If you are looking for a few places to give to support the people in Minnesota, here are few vetted hubs:
Stand with Minnesota- a Minnesota, regularly updated resource hub
MPLS Mutual Aid- A hub for Minneapolis-based mutual aid efforts in Minnesota.
MN Voice- a searchable statewide directory of orgs that support immigrants and refugees across Minnesota
2026 Workshops
I love working internally with an organization. But sometimes organizations don’t have a critical mass of folks. Or people want to use their PD money to learn with people not in their org. For all of these reasons, I’m hosting three opportunities to learn with me.
Train the Trainer: Performance Reviews That Work- This train-the-trainer series equips internal leaders to confidently train managers on writing and delivering fair, evidence-based performance reviews that actually support growth. Sample decks, facilitator script and activities included for you to customize and use.
Leading with Clarity- A three week intensive on leading with clarity from the inside out. We cover clarifying your own values, leadership frameworks, setting up decision-making rights, having effective feedback conversations and leading with influence. if you’re new to leading a team or vertical, or new to a role, this gives you frameworks and language with the space to make them your own.
Decision Making Lab- This hands-on lab helps team leads clarify who decides what, when, and how—so teams stop revisiting the same conversations and start moving forward with confidence.
More details and links are here. And if you are an organization looking for internal capacity building, here is my latest menu of workshops.
1% Solutions
Share your draft, not just your decisions- Before you finalize something—a new process, a team structure, a project plan—share the 80% version with the people it'll affect most. Say explicitly: "This isn't final. What am I missing?" You'll catch blind spots and you'll model that iteration beats perfection. People follow leaders who think out loud. Note: Just make it clear who is the ultimate decision maker, and circle back on any feedback you did or did not take.
Name the person who made you rethink something- In your next team meeting or all-hands, call out someone whose question, pushback, or perspective shifted your thinking. Example: "I was planning to roll this out next week, but after talking with Keisha, I realized we needed to wait until after the audit. Thanks for catching that." It normalizes course correction and makes influence visible beyond just title.
Create a "first follower" channel- Literally. A Slack channel (or email thread, or whatever you use) where people can share: "I tried this thing someone else on the team did." Not for big wins—for the small stuff. Someone adopted a new meeting format. Someone used a template. Someone asked a type of question they saw modeled. Make copying each other a team norm, not just a happy accident. Note: This is especially important after a workshop or facilitation.
Things I’m Reading
Why Alignment Dies In Middle Management - If you’ve read my newsletter for some time, you know how powerful mid-level leaders can be- and the damage that’s done when they are underutilized. This article has a great playbook for how to ensure you’re really empowering your midlevel managers
When You have to Assign Work No One Wants to Do- We all want to give choice and autonomy but sometimes we also need to do things that are deeply unsexy. I’ve seen leaders in this moment waffle on clarity or make things sound like a choice (when it’s not). This article is simple and useful in helping leaders who have to delegate unwanted work in a way that’s as humane and empowering as possible.
