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The Battles We Pick
What can we learn about making social and political change from talking to professional change-makers? This work takes a combination of persistence, shrewdness, and luck. On the Battles We Pick podcast, skilled advocates and organizers talk about how they deal with the various challenges they confront.
Theme music by generous permission of recording artist Stephen.
Episodes
22 episodes
White nationalism researcher Hannah Gais on the overlap of hate groups and the GOP
The Intelligence Project of the Southern Poverty Law Center is well known for...
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Episode 22
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45:18
Veteran immigrant rights advocate Charles Kamasaki on the last comprehensive reform, and the next
It is often noted that the last time Congress enacted comprehensive immigration reform was in the 1980s. Charles Kamasaki was not only deeply involved in shaping that le...
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Episode 21
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43:31
Civic Power coauthor Sabeel Rahman on bringing affected communities directly into decision-making
Cornell Law School Professor Sabeel Rahman is coauthor of an important recent book,
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Episode 20
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44:52
African social entrepreneur Lolo Cynthia on getting healthy sexuality education into schools
Lolo Cynthia is an African reproductive health activist, social entrepreneur, and expe...
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Episode 19
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47:35
PEN America CEO Suzanne Nossel on the battle over free speech and book banning
Suzanne Nossel leads the US chapter of PEN, the international network of professional writers dedicated to promoting and protecting the basic right to freedom of expression. Suzanne's book on t...
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Episode 18
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37:05
Memphis Councilwoman Michalyn Easter-Thomas on her Driving Equality Ordinance to Save Black Lives
After Tyre Nichols was killed by Memphis Police officers who had pulled him over for a trivial traffic infraction, City Councilwoman Michalyn Easter-Thomas "had never seen so many CNN cars and t...
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Episode 17
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50:21
Philanthropic adviser Stephen Saloom on the unique and vital role of community foundations
One interesting angle on advocacy are the effort some people devote to prodding certain key players to get more involved. In sectors like philanthropy, there can be a reluctance because it seems too political. As founder of the
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Episode 16
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52:46
Advocacy evaluation pioneer Sarah Stachowiak on emerging challenges for the advocacy field
First episode back after a hiatus of several months, so I needed a great guest. Sarah Stachowiak is CEO of the Seattle-based evaluation consulting firm ORS Impact and has ...
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Episode 15
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43:43
Early-career social worker Sadie Bender Shorr on using creative problem-solving to meet human needs
This episode is a special holiday edition featuring a conversation with my daughter when they were home for Thanksgiving. Sadie Bender Shorr is in the early phase of a career in social work, currently working in the University of Arizona's coun...
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Episode 14
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34:49
Author Sasha Issenberg on how he chronicled the major social change of same-sex marriage
This episode's guest is a journalist rather than an advocate, the author of one of the best books focused on advocacy work. Political reporter Sasha Issenberg's The Engagement tells the story of the...
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Episode 13
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59:31
Voting rights attorney Yael Bromberg on turning the tide on voter suppression
Election law attorney Yael Bromberg is principal of her own firm and litigation practice. With a specialty in student voting rights, she serves as outside counsel to the
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Episode 12
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49:56
Veteran advocate and evaluator Kathleen Sullivan and I review key points from the podcast's first ten episodes
To mark the podcast being ten-episodes old, I invited close colleague and good friend Kathleen Sullivan of Fine Gauge Strategies to listen back to some of the most interesting points made by thos...
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Episode 11
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55:02
Strategist and philanthropic adviser Richard Healey on cues progressives sould take from the military's strategic principles
The podcast's tenth episode was a reunion with the former executive director of the group where I was an intern right after college. Richard Healey was executive director of not only the Coalition for a New Foreign and Military Policy but also ...
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Episode 10
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55:32
Climate action advocate Clarence Edwards' observations about how power works in Washington
Clarence Edwards has worked on nearly every side of US foreign policy and politics—from presidential campaign finance to the State Department to the Council on Foreign Relations to lobbying Congress for groups like the Friends Campaign on Natio...
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Episode 9
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56:37
Veteran public interest lawyer Eileen Hershenov on homegrown threats to American democracy
In our conversation, Eileen Hershenov of the Anti-Defamation League kept coming back to the theme of advocacy's broadest challenge: to keep progressing and sustaining change over the long haul. As Eileen explained, the only way to sustain progr...
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Episode 8
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52:53
Consultant Terry Woodbury on how struggling rural communities can pull back from the brink
When Terry Woodbury was fresh out of his masters program at Princeton Theological Seminary in the late-1960s, an internship with a wealthy Kansas congregation—essentially an experiment in changing local racial relations—sent him on a career pat...
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Episode 7
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53:49
Fetal alcohol spectrum advocate Sandra Ionno Butcher on bringing diverse stakeholders together for shared goals
Sandra Ionno Butcher has been chief executive of the National Organisation for FASD for six and a half years—and active in efforts on behalf of the Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder for nearly a decade—after spending the bulk of her career advoca...
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Episode 6
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54:23
Anti-poverty advocate Gawain Kripke on the importance of flexibility and opportunism in advocacy
Prior to launching his consulting firm Double Dogwood, Gawain Kripke spent the bulk of his career with Oxfam America, most of that time as policy director responsible for the organization’s advocacy efforts. That role put Gawain in many d...
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Episode 5
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52:44
Amnesty International advocate Adotei Akwei on the inside game, outside game, and movement-building
Adotei Akwei is a seasoned and accomplished advocate who has worked for the American Committee on Africa, Human Rights First, CARE USA, and spent over 25 years with Amnesty International USA. Currently he is Amnesty's Chief Membership Collabora...
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Episode 4
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57:43
Labor leader Bob Walsh on relationship-building in advocacy
Recently retired teachers union leader Bob Walsh shared many useful insights from his career going all the way back to politics on the college campus where we both went. As a student government leader, Bob was the farthest thing from the Tracy ...
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Episode 3
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55:19
DEI consultant Angela Bruce-Raeburn on confronting the development field with its systemic racism
When George Floyd's horrific murder prompted a reckoning with the America's pervasive racism, a nagging concern had been on Angela Bruce-Raeburn's mind for at least a decade over the racism she saw in the global development field. As a Black Am...
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Episode 2
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51:14
Georgetown Law Human Righrs Institute Director Elisa Massimino on the need for advocates to balance chutzpah and humility
Elisa Massimino shared reflections from a distinguished career in human rights advocacy, including as CEO of one of the major organizations in the field, Human Rights First. Drawing from her
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Episode 1
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54:57
