Reich - Coming Up Short

Robert Reich's Coming Up Short (2025) includes reflections on his life experiences coupled with the political evolution of the U.S., which in his estimation is "coming up short" for so many of its citizens. Reich owns his politics through the book which will not be a surprise to anyone who knows his career. While the assessment of where we are coming up short politically is dark, he does offer hope in describing students he has taught over the last years of his working life.

Reich's family benefitted from coming of age after the collapse of Gilded Age fortunes in the Great Depression, the result of which was wealth flowing to a new middle class, providing unbridled opportunity for many. The conservative perception (espoused by Ayn Rand, a prominent political commentator) of the popular Christmas story of this era, It's a Wonderful Life, was that it was evidence of Communist infiltration. The age of a rising middle class was built at a time of growing industry, population, and people of all sorts together in new and vibrant communities.

The upheaval of the Gilded Age and birth of a middle class was ripe for McCarthyism, which was a post WWII view striving to undermine the gains of FDR's New Deal. And who was ready to aid McCarthy's project - Roy Cohn. Cohn later became useful to the emerging NYC real estate mogul Donald Trump. As a fixer and mentor to Trump, one of Cohn's most significant introductions was to Rupert Murdoch. The significance of these three men's life-long working relationship cannot be overstated.

Reich recounted many of his childhood experiences, which are entertaining while revealing his character. Because of his small stature, Reich was often the object of bullies. During the summer of his 3rd grade year, he met Mickey, a teenager vacationing in an Adirondack cabin near where Reich's family was staying. During that summer, Mickey became Reich's supporter by just being a handsome big kid to hang with. Having lost track of Mickey, the stunning revelation that Mickey Schwerner was one of three murdered "Freedom Riders" in the summer of 1964 cemented Reich's commitment to be part of the generation of Americans "called on to continue the unending search for justice within our own borders" (p. 58). The Summer of 1964 and Reich's free speech and civil rights activism brought him to see "the central struggle of civilization as fighting bullies - standing up against brutality" (p. 66).

Reich dated Hillary Clinton, got chewed out by Bobby Kennedy as a campaign volunteer, and studied with Bill Clinton as a Rhodes Scholar. Exposure to these key figures was formative but experience in a T-Group in big Sur (similar to one I experienced in Cedar City, Utah, in 1971) caused him to see his youthful experiences of being bullied as related to the violence and upheaval that was gripping America. The assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr., leaders who appealed to the idealism of young people and progressives, drove Americans from hope to despair.

About half-way through the book, Reich sharpened his critique that the U.S. government has shifted its focus. He said, "The real choice is who benefits by the decisions government makes about the rules of the game - people who are wealthy and privilege or those who are not, and who pays for it" (p. 258). Relaxed policies about campaign and candidate financial support have resulted in buying influence in the houses of congress and the White House. What is particularly problematic about this is that moneyed interests have shifted to maximizing their wealth rather than investing in innovation, services, improving productivity, and citizens' welfare.

Cruelty is found in individual actions as well as communities and governments. The prevailing form of cruelty in conservative politics is often based on a philosophy "that the only moral purpose of life is the pursuit of one's own happiness" (p. 81) which was foundational to the conservativism emerging in the 1970s, influenced by the philosophy of Ayn Rand. Reich retorted, "If we are losing our national identify, it is not because we are becoming blacker or browner or speak in more languages than we once did. It is because we are losing our sense of common good" (p. 87).

The battle between conservative and liberal ideas has now become a battle for big money that corrupts lawmakers as they change rules to make the rich even richer. Assuming that capitalism is the only way to prosperity and that economic benefit will eventually trickle down to others, lawmakers and moneyed interests trample over any commitment to the public good. This perspective eclipsed the idea that businesses are stewards of public trust to benefit employees and consumers and that sharing wealth through good wages for employees and reasonable prices for goods and services was an ideal to which America ascribed.

Reich peppered quotable gems throughout the book as he reflected on his personal life experience and involvement in politics. Some of my favorites include:

On parenting - Teenage boys can't be scheduled. They're like clamshells. They open just for a moment, to take in a little nourishment or expel some dirt... If you're around when they open, you have a chance to see something truly beautiful inside (p. 301).

On partisanship - Once unbottled, mass resentment can poison the very fabric of society, the moral integrity of society, replacing ambition with envy, replacing tolerance with hate (p. 305).

On journalism - If you have two guys on a stage and one guy says, "I have a solution to the Middle East problem" and the other guy falls in the orchestra pit, who do you think is going to be on the evening news? (p. 308)

On privilege - My administration is the only thing between you and the pitchforks (p. 328)

On change - Being an activist for social justice means working hard but not expecting the goals to be achieved anytime soon (p. 379). 

On leadership - The long game requires a new and different conception of leadership, one in which leaders see part of their responsibility as building public trust (p. 431).

On American capitalism - The harshest form of capitalism in all the world's advanced economies. It takes almost no account for social costs and benefits (p. 426).

On youth - Instead of being bitter or angry, they have all sorts of ideas for how to clean it up, fix it, make the world better (p. 405).

On aging - ...there are four ages to life: youth, middle age, old age, and YOU LOOK GREAT (p. 458).

In the closing pages of the book Reich reflects:

Most people who "retire" stop what they call "working" and begin what they call "playing." But what if your work is also your play? What if it's your calling? What if its' deeply meaningful to you? (p. 456)

and continues...

Meaningful work - work that's more play than work - can lead to a longer life (p. 457).

Reich's reflection is in many ways a luxury that most people do not have the opportunity to obtain. There's a lot of privilege in teaching and writing but for those who are so lucky, comes the heavier responsibility of cultivating a legacy - something that shows you gave your best effort in your life's work.

Berry - World-Ending Fire

I was introduced to Wendell Berry over coffee by a candidate positioning himself to run for Illinois state representative in my district. I was immediately struck by Patrick Hanley's thoughtfulness and apparent intelligence, so I decided to pick something up and I chose The World-Ending Fire: The Essential Wendell Berry (2017). I chose this book because it was a sequential collection of Berry's writing from 1968 to 2011. I found the entire book interesting but, because it was a collection over time, there are certain themes that are repeated through different stories and revelations. I found that the first several chapters and a couple of concluding chapters captured the "essentials" and I therefore focus on them in this review.

Hanley and Berry are both excellent examples of grounded leadership that is focused on improving communities and the general welfare of those who inhabit them. As studies of character, their conviction in leadership is exemplary.

Berry was a university professor with somewhat eccentric views of the environment and community resulting from his experience in restoring and expanding his family farm throughout his life. The introduction says, "Over the last century, by some estimates, over half the world's topsoil has been washed away by the war on nature that we call industrial farming" (page viii) and that is the central warning that frames the rest of the book. He attributes the fall of small family farms to urbanization that drew young people away from their own origins, origins that previously had connected them to other animals, plants, and the communities that nurtured them. Abundance seemed to prevail in the impersonal, disconnected spaces of cities and thus living abundantly (excessively) became the perceived mark of progress. All the while, the lands and animals that inhabited them were exploited and began a slide to unproductivity.

Berry offers an ominous prediction:

There appears to be a law that when creatures have reached the level of consciousness, as men have, they must become conscious of the creation; they must learn how they fit into it and what its needs are and what it requires of them, or else pay a terrible penalty; the spirit of the creation will go out of them, and they will become destructive; the very earth will depart from them and go where they cannot follow (p. 21).

The antidote is that we must embrace the universal reality that what is good for the world is good for us, which happens only when we try to know the world and our roles in it rather than exploiting and benefitting from it. Filling oneself with knowledge of the earth then brings the realization that the world is inexhaustible and will outlast any humans today or in the future. The question is an earth in what form and condition? A world that is dominated by consumerism and competition "destroys the natural environment" and it "abuses racial and economic minorities" in the same way (p. 49). To correct the abuse of the earth and other humans, "we are going to have to go far beyond public protest and political action. We are going to have to rebuild the substance and the integrity of private life in this country" (p. 53). In sum, "we will be wrong if we attempt to correct what we perceive as 'environmental' problems without correcting the economic oversimplification that caused them" (p. 66).

A theological perspective (not labeled as such) of creating and sustaining a beloved community is Berry's way forward - creating "common experience and common effort on a common ground to which one willingly belongs" (p. 94). The point of this strategy is that only by restoring local soil with joint effort can community cultures be restored - connected, appreciative, moderate, and abundant. A philosophical assumption of this kind of community is that the "standard of the exploiter is efficiency; the standard of the nurturer is care. The exploiter's goals are money, profit; the nurturer's goal is health - his land's health" (p. 122).

Berry's chapter on "Two Minds" describes the "Rational Mind - motivated by the fear of being misled, of being wrong," and the "Sympathetic Mind - motivated by the fear of error of carelessness, of being unloving" (p. 180). The 'Sympathetic Mind' is "informed by experience, by traditionborne stories of the experiences of others, by familiarity, by compassion, by commitment, by faith" (p. 184). In Berry's view, conservation is not enough and must stretch to "conserve the possibilities of peace and good work" (p. 199).

"Compromise Hell" asserts that "The general purpose of the present economy is to exploit, not to foster or conserve" (p. 313). The sustainable alternative economy advocates:

1. Humans don't have to live by destroying the sources of their life.
2. Respect ourselves and our dwelling places and quit thinking of rural America as a colony.
3. Reaffirm the economic value of good stewardship and good work.
4. Reconsider solving economic problems by 'bringing in industry'.
5. Confront honestly the issue of scale - bigness promotes greed, indifference, and damage.
6. Prioritize caring for our land.

Generous Leadership

As part of the Student Affairs NOW series, Keith Edwards interviewed Kathleen Fitzpatrick about her two recently published books - Generous Thinking (2019) and Leading Generously (2024). These two books address the complexities of higher education and the vulnerability that has always been there, but not as graphically exposed as we see now - the competitive individualism that has for generations characterized academic thinking and processes. Her point is that the pervasive influence of individualism and competition in structures and approaches to research, theorizing, and publication have prevented cooperation that should be fostering greater innovation.

I have believed for a very long time that the divisiveness of the academy has undermined much of what most of those working in it, as well as consumers of it, dreamed it was accomplishing. I have attempted to counter systemic competitive isolation in multiple ways but have failed repeatedly, especially when I look at the long-term impact of what I hoped to accomplish. Combining the foundation of generosity with another idea I've recently encountered might actually work. The other idea is authentizotic culture. These ideas, generosity and authentizotic culture, are explained in the following paragraphs.

Fitzpatrick and Edwards engaged in conversation about how essential it is for higher education institutions to transform themselves into generous rather than competitive places. Especially at a time when enrollments are shifting, public support has softened, and where some governments (particularly in the U.S.) have become skeptical or hostile, institutions and their faculty/staff, need to pull together. Fitzpatrick advocates twelve practices or tools for personal and institutional transformation (chapters in Generous Leading, 2025). They might also be viewed as values that guide the conduct of leading generously - people, yourself, vulnerability, together, trust, values, listening, transparency, nimbleness, narrative, sustainability, and solidarity. Fitzpatrick identified these characteristics by talking to mid-level institutional leaders and reflecting on those things that seemed to make the most difference. In doing so, she also recognized the difficulty of consistently putting them into practice.

The idealization of an authentizotic organization was coined by Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries. From the INSEAD description of his 2022 article, "Authentizotic Organizations: Best Places to Work":

"authentizotic" - derived from the Greek words authteekos and zoteekos. An organization that is authentic inspires employees through the integrity of its vision, mission, values, culture, and structure. Zoteekos, meaning "vital to life", when applied to an organizational context implies that people are invigorated by their workplace and find in it a sense of balance and completeness.

I have not read Kets de Vries' complete article, but this definition alone is enough to stimulate images of joy, fulfillment, and innovation in work and leisure. The problem is that I've seldom worked or lived within such an environment. What often occurs is that there are those, often in leadership roles, who envision and advocate ideas much like an authentizotic organization, but their behavior contradicts it.

The two concepts - generosity and authentizotic culture - are inseparable in my view. It would be extremely difficult to be generous without true knowledge and compassion for an individual or institution. It would also be difficult to foster an authentizotic culture without a commitment to generosity, forgiveness, and welcoming different perspectives. How inspiring and fulfilling would it be to work and live in an organization that strove for both of these ideals?

Schlossberg - Revitalizing Retirement

I've supposedly been retired for over 10 years now. Yet, I've not been able to actually say that I am retired nor have I been able to stop learning, writing, working, and creating. The only difference between my life before 2014 and now is that I used to get paid for my contributions. Now I either volunteer, am invited, or fall into opportunities on a regular basis and, thus, I call myself "semi-retired." Fortunately, Nancy Schlossberg's Revitalizing Retirement: Reshaping Your Identity, Relationships, and Purpose  (2009) gave me a fuller understanding that the way I've chosen to spend these years isn't that strange - it's one of several paths that people can choose after their full-time working careers.

For a starter, retirement is best framed as a series of phases or stages rather than a destination. Schlossberg cites Gene Cohen who defined them as:

1. Midlife reevaluation, which is a better way to describe this "time for exploration and transition" than the term midlife crisis;
2. Liberation, a "time to experiment";
3. Summing up, a period to review one's life, followed by giving back through such activities as volunteering; and
4. Encore, which he described as "the desire to go on, even in the face of adversity or loss." (Locator 203)
   

Schlossberg reviews these phases through a lens that she used throughout her career as a researcher and author - mattering. Mattering, the belief or feeling that we are noticed or count, is a human need that is present throughout the life span. How one finds ways to enhance mattering is unique to the individual even though there are predictable life thresholds that can put that sense of mattering at risk. The specific qualities that support a sense of mattering include attention, importance, appreciation, and dependence. Particularly during one's post-working years, the recipe for how these ingredients can be enhanced include 1) "getting involved and staying involved, b) harnessing the power of invitation, c) taking initiative, and d) doing your best to make others feel that they matter" (Locator 514).

Six pathways that retirees may choose are 1) continuers, 2) easy gliders, 3) adventurers, 4) searchers, 5) involved spectators, and 6) retreaters. Schlossberg provides definitions and examples of each of these and is careful not to show preference or judgment about whatever path one might choose. Retirees may adopt one of these six depending on everything from health to wealth, to opportunity. The point is that retirees have choices and whatever the path one chooses, some way of maintaining a sense that you matter and make a continuing contribution is a must.

Revitalizing Retirement is a great resource for individuals to read or Schlossberg even suggests the possibility of a study group whose members might go through the book, reading and discussing as they go, and responding to the check up that concludes each chapter. Particularly during the preparatory time for retirement, it's important not to move too quickly and without a period of testing and evaluation. To age gracefully and embrace whatever model one chooses requires "time: time to mourn for what you left, time to figure out what's next, and time to feel comfortable with a new life" (Locator 2052).

Grant - Think Again

Adam Grant's Think Again (2021) asserts the central thesis that sometimes our first response or intuition is incorrect. Further, because errors are more common on first-blush, leaders and constituents need to adopt strategies that can help to critically examine and thereby come to better plans to respond.

The common approaches to arguing issues on which we disagree are the preacher, prosecutor, politician, or the scientist. The preacher mode is invoked when sacred beliefs are in jeopardy. The prosecutor mode is activated when we recognize flaws in others' reasoning. The politician mode is used when we seek to win over the opposition. Grant's proposition is that we would make better decisions if we abandoned the first three strategies and, instead, cultivate a more scientific approach motivated by the search for truth and utilizing experiments to test hypotheses and discover new knowledge. "Scientific thinking favors humility over pride, doubt over certainty, curiosity over closure" (Locator 437). The antidote to arrogance, which Grant characterizes as "ignorance plus conviction" (Locator 653) is humility, a word derived from the Latin root meaning, "from the earth," or being grounded.

A very interesting assertion in relation to the current political strategy of the Trump administration is that "skilled negotiators rarely went on offense or defense. Instead, they expressed curiosity with questions like 'So you don't see any merit in this proposal at all?" (Locator 1462) Perhaps negotiations in Washington and around the world would be different if this approach were embraced.

How to apply scientific thinking is then examined in the broader sections of Grant's book, labeled individual rethinking, interpersonal rethinking, and collective rethinking. Spoiler alert - the best thinking and highlights of Think Again are summarized in the Epilogue of "Actions for impact" and in Grant's own book summary.

The following quote directly addresses the dilemma faced in leadership:

It's easy to see the appeal of a confident leader who offers a clear vision, a strong plan, and a definitive forecast for the future. But in times of crisis as well as times of prosperity, what we need more is a leader who accepts uncertainty, acknowledges mistakes, learns from others, and rethinks plans (Locator 3428).

The advice on how to cultivate this kind of leadership from Grant's "Action for Impact" include:

Individual rethinking:

1. Think like a scientist
2. Define your identity in terms of values, not opinions
3. Seek out information that goes against your views
4. Beware of getting stranded on the summit of Mount Stupid
5. Harness the benefits of doubt
6. Embrace the joy of being wrong
7. Learn something new from each person you meet
8. Build a challenge network, not just a support network
9. Don't shy away from constructive conflict

Interpersonal rethinking:

1. Ask better questions
2. Practice the art of persuasive listening
3. Question how rather than why
4. Ask "What evidence would change your mind?"
5. Ask how people originally formed an opinion
6. Acknowledge common ground
7. Remember that less is often more
8. Reinforce freedom of choice
9. Have a conversation about the conversation

Collective rethinking:

1. Have more nuanced conversations
2. Don't shy away from caveats and contingencies
3. Expand your emotional range
4. Have a weekly myth-busting discussion at dinner
5. Invite kids to do multiple drafts and seek feedback from others
6. Stop asking kids what they want to be when they grow up
7. Abandon best practices
8. Establish psychological safety
9. Keep a rethinking scorecard
10. Throw out the ten-year plan
11. Rethink your actions, not just your surroundings
12. Schedule a life checkup
13. Make time to THINK AGAIN

At the core of these recommendations are intellectual humility, curiosity, and the eagerness to explore perspectives that contrast with our own. My experience has taught me that there are those who are interested in this level of honesty and inquiry and others who are not. The key is determining who welcomes your curiosity and the "clearest sign of intellectual chemistry isn't agreeing with someone. It's enjoying your disagreement with them" (Locator 1133).

Klein & Thompson - Abundance

I naturally gravitated to Klein and Thompson's Abundance (2025), largely because my sense of optimism is always stimulated by a title that appears to provide hope. In simple terms, this book helped make sense of the current dysfunctional state of U.S. government and it proposed a way out.

I've never thought of it before but essentially "Politics is a way of organizing conflict" (p. 203). The authors explain that the U.S. has had deep and conflicting views before and that the ebb and flow of conservativism and liberalism is to be expected because neither political perspective ever gets things completely right. Owning their affinity to the progressive or liberal side, Klein and Thompson laud the New Deal of the 1930s and the neoliberal order of the 1970s as the most significant in recent history where progressivism had a transcendent moment in serving the largest number of citizens. In both of these cases the previous political order broke down (the Great Depression giving rise to the New Deal and the civil rights movement defining a new "we" through progressivism) and made it possible to adopt a dramatically different political ethos.

Klein and Thompson propose that governance in the U.S. is on the crest of a failing political order that will make space for something new. Philosophically, the U.S. is suffering from an ideological conspiracy that is dependent on viewing itself in decline. This decline is embraced in different ways by both liberals and conservatives. "Too often, the right sees only the imagined glories of the past, and the left sees only the injustices of the present" (p. 15). What is critical about an emerging new order is that the previous ideological conspiracy has to be rewritten with "a (new) narrative, a story... about the good life" (p. 206). The current politics of scarcity motivates right-wing populists whose preference is to close doors while glorifying business and oligarchy as essential handmaidens of managed scarcity. The current culture and economic wars unfortunately do not have the patience and reason to build toward a shared positive future, thus MAGA ideology relies on the dark side of competition rather than the possibility of cooperation and mutual benefit.

Scarcity-driven instincts are derived at least partially from the failures of liberalism, coalescing scientific and cultural skeptics who view dismantling the deep state and limiting the reach of government as their primary calling. And the liberal view perpetuates its ineptitude by creating obstructionists processes and advocating over-regulation that slows, if not undermines, progress for the very projects and visions that would allow progressivism to create a better society. And, the legalism that dominates much of U.S. decision making breeds mistrust of government, resulting in safeguards to disable misuse of power. Tragically, the "safeguards" get in the way of constructive influence as well. As an example, Klein and Thompson describe NSF and NIH funding as most often going to researchers pursuing proofs that are almost certain, avoiding the tougher questions of scientific discovery, binding and constricting the entire process with excessive paperwork and reporting. They propose, instead, funding researchers to pursue grand questions and then rewarding those able to find a solution.

In order to shift from the current scarcity warfare to a new lens based on abundance, Klein and Thompson propose new questions (p. 215), rather than policy solutions, to draw citizens and politicians together:

1. What is scarce that should be abundant?
2. What is difficult to build that should be easy?
3. What inventions do we need that we do not yet have?

These big questions relieve both conservative and liberals of the pathology of defending their ideas based on ideology and quibbling over rules and control. Instead, a politics of abundance would begin to deliver real innovation and solutions for real world problems that most citizens and even politicians secretly recognize.This abundance would unleash the creativity and genius required for the U.S. to regain its national character and return to a place of opportunity for anyone with a great idea and the gumption to pursue it.

Gladwell - Revenge of the Tipping Point

Malcolm Gladwell set out to reprieve the first of his several books when a "refresh" clearly became a much bigger task and possibility. The result is Revenge of the Tipping Point: Overstories, Superspreaders, and the Rise of Social Engineering (2024), written 25 years after the original Tipping Point. The first Tipping Point explored how the Law of the Few, the Power of Context, and the Stickiness Factor created social contagion. The new tipping point looks at social epidemics and the role of people who know where, when, and how to exert power to create the change they want. While I am most interested in how positive trends can be fostered, understanding how some of the negative trends of the past and present were possible is also important.

The first assertion of the revenge of the tipping point is that social epidemics are fired by a sometimes very small number of people who have very significant power and influence. Analyses of the COVID-19 pandemic focused on "index" cases, which are the people who got the virus started. Of course, there were multiple theories as COVID began to spread - where did it come from and by what means did it spread? Gladwell's analyses indicated that, regardless if you believe the virus came from a lab in China or elsewhere, it clearly spread from aspiration. The degree to which one individual infects others is based on how much their breath spreads the tiny particles that carry the virus. High saturation of the virus is prevalent in thick saliva, which is common among those who are dehydrated. Where is dehydration most common - among those who are overweight and older. These individuals were found to be the most likely superspreaders of the COVID-19 pandemic and they had the worst consequences when they got it. Social epidemics do not require dense aspiration particles but rely on superspreaders with oversized impact on public perception and opinion.

Gladwell's second assertion is derived from research conducted by Rosabeth Moss Kanter on workplace "belonging." She found that boundary breakers by race, sex, and other differences aren't given space to be themselves until there is a critical mass of their same identity. The changeover from hostile to welcoming environment occurs when the "magic third" is achieved, which is also a point at which the majority begins to notice their presence. The "revenge of the turning point" is that moment when the possibility or actuality of who is present is recognized.

Noticing the possibility of African Americans moving into the neighborhood during mid-20th century was what drove suburban "white flight." The emergence of the magic third threshold can be the result of accident or intention and realtors sought to make sure neither was possible. Recognizing the possibility that African Americans were coming to the suburbs, realtors and loan officers conspired through red-lining to protect white households from shifting proportions on their blocks. Prevention of white flight through red-lining was a form of social engineering to avoid a potential tipping point. The Harvard affirmative action case challenged its social engineering of enrollment. The case revealed that sports-inclined privileged white students, as well as alumni legacies, were favored over Asian students who would otherwise have out-qualified them. If the enrollment tipped, Asian students might have achieved the magic third feared by administrators. Gladwell's criticisms of higher education were denounced by some and lauded by others in academic circles.

The third assertion of Revenge of the Tipping Point is about the stories we hear and tell. Gladwell refers to Zeitgeist, a perception of current circumstances that can be rewritten or reimagined, in ways that change the way people behave. The first example Gladwell used to demonstrate this point is the introduction in the 1950s of the term Holocaust as the term for Nazi genocide and the second is the role the TV hit "Will and Grace" played in normalizing gay relationships. In both of these examples, the public consciousness and beliefs changed as a result of restorying. The public tipped with "The Holocaust" becoming the common term and laws recognizing gay marriage embraced.

As Gladwell says, "Overstories matter. You can create them. They can spread. They are powerful. And they can endure for decades" (p. 282). An integrative and sad example Gladwell used to combine the importance of superspreaders, group proportions, and overstories was the OxyContin epidemic. What was initially perceived to be an almost magical remedy to pain turned into over prescriptions by complicit physicians, perverse marketing strategies recommended by McKinsey consulting, and a strategy to restory OxyContin's risks. Gladwell said, "The opioid crisis unfolded in three acts" (p. 294) - the manufacturer avoided states that had tracking mechanisms, a diabolic scheme for marketing focused on physicians who were prone to abuse, and the public stumbled ahead in its pursuit of pain relief that ended in addiction for many.

Superspreaders, proportionality, and restorying can be employed for both negative and positive purposes. Knowing the potential power of the three ideas can help to protect against abuses as well as provide useful concepts for those striving to exercise leadership to bring about positive change.

Activism and leadership

Activism is rising and how to get involved is an individual choice, particularly since there are so many ways to express your views and stand up for what you believe in. I joined 100+ residents of the Chicago North Shore who were part of the U.S. Tesla Takedown demonstrations that took place across the country at Tesla dealerships. I learned about the protests through Indivisible Chicago, one of many local groups organizing protests, boycotts, and other initiatives to push back on Trump's chaos. So there is no question, violence and property destruction were not advocated to the slightest degree and I would not have considered participation if any was implied.

I wanted to do something but didn't know where to start and how to get connected. What I learned was that it was easy, networks exist for those who are concerned about where the U.S. is headed, and it feels great to find other people who are concerned as well. Flatly stated - it restored hope that the Trump Project 2025 implementation is not unstoppable. Trump will become unstoppable only if citizens don't step up.

What did it feel like to go to a random spot where I might not know anyone else or not know how to plug in? I arrived a few minutes early and saw individuals and small groups milling around the Tesla dealership, sizing things up for what was to come. The police showed up a few minutes before the start time and simply sat in their cars, awaiting what would come. People then started converging from everywhere, some carrying signs, others just showing up. We assembled on the public property in front of the dealership and the police came around to tell us where we needed to stay to not violation private property rights of the Tesla dealership. Protestors with signs lined up on both sides of the roadway, striking a chord with a cheer every few minutes. I started asking questions of people around me and got into numerous informative conversations as I became more comfortable sharing my concerns. Although I was there to protest an unelected billionaire's takeover of the U.S. government, I am deeply concerned about attacks on higher education and I am concerned about the peoples of Ukraine and Gaza having a chance to live as I do - secure safe, and prosperous.

I met a number of really fun and interesting people, two of them I knew from previous events. We introduced each other to continue expanding our networks and we talked about the things that concern us most. The encouragement of passersby who honked their horns in approval bolstered the positive feeling of being there for everyone. When I left, I made sure to thank the policeman as I walked by - expressing appreciation for their protection of our civil rights. There is no doubt that I will continue to watch for opportunities to speak up and I hope many more will join in the days to come.