There’s a question Rashad Robinson wants every nonprofit and foundation leader to sit with right now: Are you building power — or just showing up?
Rashad spent 13 years leading Color of Change, co-founded the Fight Back Table — one of the largest progressive coalitions in the U.S. — forced over 100 corporations to leave ALEC (the American Legislative Exchange Council, a corporate-backed group that writes and promotes conservative legislation in statehouses across the country), and took on Facebook in one of the largest boycotts in American history. Now he’s channeling all of that hard-won wisdom into a newsletter, a new show, work alongside Jane Fonda, and a book.
Eric sits down with Rashad for a wide-ranging conversation about what it actually takes to win: the difference between a dialogue and a negotiation, why visibility is only the beginning, what Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl performance means for the movement, and how to fight fatigue when you’re running on empty but can’t stop.
This one’s got joy, strategy, and no shortage of Mets references.
Rashad’s work:
- From Presence to Power: How to Take On the Fights That Matter and Win — One World/Penguin Random House, pub date July 28. Pre-order now, and please buy local if you can.
- How We Win — Rashad’s newsletter on movement strategy, power, and the fight ahead
- Bad Bunny did his job. Will we do ours? — Rashad’s newsletter piece on the Super Bowl moment, which goes deeper than our conversation
- Freedom Table — Rashad’s monthly show on NewsOne
- Committee for the First Amendment — Jane Fonda’s relaunched McCarthy-era free speech organization, where Rashad serves on the steering committee
LISTEN HERE
Read the transcript here
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