Vol 6. trust the people and the people become trustworthy
Since early 2026, I have been exploring leadership lessons I learned from grassroots organizing, inspired by quotes from some of the organizers that have shaped my perspective.
It’s hard to overstate how important my organizing history is to how I approach leadership in organizations, and it’s been really helpful to put those lessons down on paper. But if I’m being truthful, I’ve been struggling with a stretch of writer’s block all summer (hence this July newsletter coming in August…). I’ve been trying to figure out if that’s a sign of fatigue from a busy season, or a sign that this particular series has said what it needed to say.
I think it’s the latter. The series is coming to a natural close.
As a leadership coach for managers in organizations taking on new people management or organizational leadership responsibilities, I see the impact of individual leadership behaviors on an organization. But I’m also really interested in how change at an organizational and systemic level can create more lasting impacts. In some ways, this is the limitation of individual coaching. The behavior changes only go so far if no one else in the organization is changing their behavior.
What I’d like to explore next is how organizing has taught me to shift organizations and systems on a larger scale—how the lens of organizing shapes my approach to organizational change work. I'm not sure yet what that will look like. Maybe case studies. Maybe common challenges organizations keep running into. I do know I won't write as regularly — quarterly instead of monthly, at least for now.
To close out this series on leadership lessons from grassroots organizers, I’m turning to one of my favorite authors and organizers, adrienne maree brown.
Vol 6. Generosity and vulnerability
“Are you actively practicing generosity and vulnerability in order to make the connections between you and others clear, open, available, durable? Generosity here means giving of what you have without strings or expectations attached. Vulnerability means showing your needs.”
“trust the people and the people become trustworthy.”
— adrienne maree brown
I had a conversation recently with a client about seeing delegation as a transferring of knowledge. Not necessarily of delegating projects and tasks, but transferring learned experience, knowledge, and perspective to your team so that they can sharpen their own.
We talked about the common organizing refrain— “organize yourself out of a job.” This was the true mark of success as an organizer— train and develop the volunteers on your campaign so they can successfully run it without you when you leave. I don’t think we want to organize ourselves out of a job as managers in a traditional job setting, however, what if we used this philosophy to grow an absolutely-knock-it-out-of-the-park-stellar team? That takes generosity. It also takes vulnerability.
It’s so easy to hold back our wisdom and knowledge because we think sharing it might cost us something. I’ve certainly been guilty of this. As a consultant, there’s a perception that sharing too much might cost us future work. But, my desire is to practice abundance. The space I am in that demonstrates this with ease is the Fractional People People community. We trust each other enough to share knowledge openly and freely for the benefit of everyone in the community. I’m grateful to my colleagues there for demonstrating that daily.
Vulnerability is the harder half of this. Years ago, I led an organizational transformation process that required trusting people with far more information than they’d historically been given. It was risky. People aren’t always ready for that kind of transparency, and there’s no guarantee it lands well. But it worked—trusting people with more than they were used to ultimately build more trust and understanding across the org. This is where the quote on “trusting the people and the people become trustworthy” really nails it for me.
Vulnerability does come with risk. This month, I’ve delivered a few feedback workshops, and I see it apply here too. There is risk and reward to offer feedback, and it requires the deliverer to be a little exposed too. You are invested in the relationship, so you’re choosing to share something difficult so that change can occur. A lot of us avoid these conversations because it feels safe to hold back. It’s a brave offering to deliver truthful feedback.
For more on transparency, I highly recommend Amanda Litman’s must-read chapter on the topic in the recent book When We’re in Charge.
Looking back across the organizers inspiring this series recently—Ross, Huerta, Boggs, and now brown—the throughline for me isn’t really about a leadership technique. It’s that these organizers, in their own ways, bet on trust before they had proof it would be returned. I’m still working out whether I do that as consistently as I’d like to believe I do.
As I start thinking about what this next chapter of writing looks like, I’d love to hear from you: What are you wrestling with when it comes to organizational change right now? Where are the systems in your org no longer matching your stated values? Perhaps your ideas will inspire a future post…
And while we’re on the topic—I’m currently scheduling clients for Q1 2027, and I’ll admit I’m most excited by the juicy stuff: orgs at a real inflection point, e.g. rapid growth, leadership transition, mission pivots, or where systems haven’t caught up to desired changes yet. If this is you, I’d love to chat.
I'm grateful to have you along for this exploration of leadership and organizing. If these reflections resonate with you, please consider sharing them with a friend who might benefit. And if you'd like to continue the conversation, you can always reply to this email. I read every response.
In solidarity,
Michaela
Client work took me to the absolutely stunning state of New Mexico this month. What a lucky gal!