September 6th, 2025
This week's focus is on Grand Strategy and Shared Visions, two interdependent and practical concepts. As you cultivate your communities and deepen relationships, a critical question arises: What is our destination? What do we aspire to create? As movement leaders, our responsibility extends beyond simply offering a vision or strategy; it's about fostering environments where visions can emerge and strategies can be illuminated. After all, our visions must be rooted in the perspectives of those we aim to serve. This foundation then allows us to conceptualize a grand strategy—our roadmap to achieving that desired future. This doesn't mean arriving empty-handed; you have an equal responsibility to contribute to the vision. We will explore your individual vision and how to cultivate a shared one, providing you with the framework to begin shaping your strategy.
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Joe Worthy is a community organizer and strategist who works alongside community members to build power through Strategic Nonviolent Action. Partnering with leaders and local groups, he drives systemic change through his roles with the Strategic Nonviolence Academy, the Albert Einstein Institution, and Light House | Black Girl Projects. His support has led to landmark victories, from coaching a community group in Côte d'Ivoire that successfully shut down a coal mine to helping end Zero Tolerance Policies in Boston and expand healthcare for mothers in Mississippi. Previously, at the Children’s Defense Fund, he focused on dismantling the Cradle to Prison Pipeline. Joe studied at Heidelberg University and the University of Oxford and was a Community Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School.
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In this session on shared visioning practices, participants will explore the foundational techniques that foster collaboration and alignment within teams and organizations. We will learn how to create a compelling vision that resonates with all stakeholders, encouraging collective ownership and enthusiasm. Through interactive exercises and facilitated discussions, we will explore the importance of inclusivity in the visioning process, enabling participants to understand how diverse perspectives can enhance creativity and drive innovation.
By the end of the session, participants will have practical tools and strategies to implement shared visioning in their contexts, empowering them to facilitate meaningful conversations and develop a shared roadmap for success.
Participants will be able to effectively apply shared visioning techniques to foster collaboration and alignment within their teams and community organizations, resulting in the creation of compelling, inclusive, and actionable shared visions that inspire collective ownership and drive success.
This session offers a foundational overview of grand strategy, emphasizing its significance in achieving long-term objectives in nonviolent movements. Participants will learn how to align their movement's goals with available resources and capabilities. The contributions from key thinkers emphasize the importance of strategic planning in nonviolent movements, highlighting how careful analysis and coordination can lead to effective resistance against oppressive systems. A broader historical perspective will examine how leaders throughout history have balanced aspirations with practical constraints to achieve their goals. Grand strategy involves coordinating various tactical actions and resources to create a cohesive plan that addresses both immediate challenges and overarching goals.
The session will highlight the importance of strategic planning, illustrating how careful analysis and integration of tactical efforts can lead to sustainable and impactful nonviolent resistance. By examining historical and contemporary examples, participants will gain a deeper understanding of how grand strategy has been successfully applied in various movements, equipping them with the knowledge and tools to develop comprehensive strategies for their own nonviolent campaigns.
Participants will be able to apply the principles of grand strategy to analyze, develop, and refine long-term plans for nonviolent movements, effectively aligning their movement's goals with available resources and capabilities to achieve sustainable and impactful resistance against oppressive systems.