FREEDOM DREAMING & THE WORK
To be a freedom dreamer is to continue the tradition of daring to boldly envision possibilities for deep social transformation. In his book Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination, to which the term refers, Robin D.G. Kelley writes "what we are against tends to take precedence over what we are for, which is always a more complicated and ambiguous matter." Freedom dreaming requires confronting systems of oppression by daring to push past what is small and incremental, to courageously dream a just world, and to steadfastly work towards it for ourselves and those who will follow us.
This ethos is at the heart of "the work" of pursuing equity in organizations and groups, as much as it is at the root of the powerful community organizing that is shaping our world every day.
IN ACTION
How does this apply to organizational & leadership development?
SETTING RADICAL & VISIONARY GOALS
The lure of the incremental in organizational & systems change is a trap. While strategic change requires careful planning and execution, we must set big, bold, and visionary goals for what we want to be true in our organizations and society if we are to make any meaningful movement.
Jennifer supports leaders & organizations in courageously answering the question: "Is our vision ambitious enough to realize a different world for our communities and society?"
WORKING COLLABORATIVELY
Any work in the service of equity and justice requires collaboration and collective wisdom. Our analysis must be grounded in careful study of systems change and social movements and in the wisdom of our communities.
Jennifer brings an intellectually rigorous practice, experience in collective leadership, and continuous commitment to collaborative work. She consistently partners with experienced and innovative equity professionals with various social identities, journeys, and lenses, to deliver the strongest, highest impact, and deeply differentiated services possible.
BUILDING A BETTER WAY BY DOING
The future is already unfolding. While we must set a bold vision of the possible, an equitable future will take shape through our choice to enact liberatory ways of operating right now. As individuals, team leaders, and systems change agents, how we show up for each other, how we create or destroy connection, how we treat each other with fairness or prejudice, are the building blocks of the house we are building for ourselves and our society.
Jennifer creates opportunities for clients to enact equity in practice at the individual, interpersonal, and institutional levels.
"...once we strip radical social movements down to their bare essence and understand the collective desires of people in motion, freedom and love lay at the very heart of the matter."