Book Club: The Four Pivots, Reimagining Justice, Reimagining Ourselves

Join Greens REALIGN in reading and discussing The Four Pivots, Reimagining Justice, Reimagining Ourselves by Shawn A. Ginwright. This virtual event series is open to all and will focus on reflection and discussion of how we, as individuals deeply embedded within the environmental movement, can deepen our activism and leadership towards a just and inclusive movement through internal reflection and transformation through the four pivots.  Each session will cover a portion of the book concerning one of the pivots. Read along or simply join for the discussion!

Schedule

• Monday, December 12 (Introduction & Pivot 1: From Lens to Mirror, Chapters 1-3)
• Monday, January 9 (Pivot 2: From Transactional to Transformative, Chapters 4-6)
• Monday, February 13 (Pivot 3: From Problem to Possibility, Chapters 7-9)
• Monday, March 13 (Pivot 4: From Hustle to Flow, Chapters 10-12)

About the Four Pivots  “Reading this courageous book feels like the beginning of a social and personal awakening…I can’t stop thinking about it.”—Brené Brown, PhD, author of Atlas of the Heart   For readers of Emergent Strategy and Dare to Lead, an activist’s roadmap to long-term social justice impact through four simple shifts.  We  need a fundamental shift in our values–a pivot in how we think, act,  work, and connect. Despite what we’ve been told, the most critical  mainspring of social change isn’t coalition building or problem  analysis. It’s healing: deep, whole, and systemic, inside and out.  Here,  Shawn Ginwright, PhD, breaks down the common myths of social  movements–a set of deeply ingrained beliefs that actually hold us back  from healing and achieving sustainable systemic change. He shows us why  these frames don’t work, proposing instead four revolutionary pivots for  better activism and collective leadership: 

Awareness: from lens to mirror 

Connection: from transactional to transformative relationships 

Vision: from problem-fixing to possibility-creating 

Presence: from hustle to flow  

Supplemented  with reflections, prompts, cutting-edge research, and the author’s own  insights and lived experience as an African American social scientist,  professor, and movement builder, The Four Pivots helps  us uncover our obstruction points. It shows us how to discover new  lenses and boldly assert our need for connection, transformation, trust,  wholeness, and healing. It gives us permission to create a better  future–to acknowledge that a broken system has been predefining our  dreams and limiting what we allow ourselves to imagine, but that it  doesn’t have to be that way at all. Are you ready to pivot?