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Conflict aversion dooms strategy: make conflict work for you
Welcome to SWOT Sunday! You are no stranger to conflict. Conflict is everywhere: with your family, friends, in your workplace or...

Karen Young
Mar 4, 20245 min read


Rural organizers’ strategy for seat at table in 2024 election
Welcome to Take Action Tuesday! There are some very exciting things happening on the rural America front. While the challenges remain...

Karen Young
Feb 28, 20245 min read


Billboards send a message bigly
Welcome to Message Monday! One of my favorite media is billboards. Actually “outdoor/out-of-home media,” as it’s known in the biz,...

Karen Young
Feb 26, 20241 min read


American Nations offers key lessons about our regional cultures and history
Welcome to SWOT Sunday! One of our key weaknesses is that "progressives are not...clear about what we want in terms of a role for...

Karen Young
Feb 26, 20245 min read


UAW has a strategy to win battle of the century
Welcome to Team Tuesday! Last fall, the United Auto Workers (UAW), under new leader Shawn Fain, launched a wildly audacious attempt to...

Karen Young
Feb 21, 20245 min read


Must-read for progressive strategists: Mother Jones series on the Farm Bill
Welcome to Message Monday! The Democracy Alliance, a major group of progressive funders, has a fine strategic approach to building...

Karen Young
Feb 19, 20243 min read


With Point B in place, Point A is where strategy starts
Point A: Another way to say it is, Where are we right now? What is the reality of our present moment? This was a major topic near the end...

Karen Young
Feb 18, 20244 min read


Progressive strategy to improve lives: Raise revenue so government can do more
Welcome to Winning Wednesday! Government needs more money to do more for America, whether that’s fixing roads, hiring teachers, or...

Karen Young
Feb 14, 20242 min read


Florida for All strategy to engage public in state budget fight
Welcome to Take Action Tuesday! I’m really impressed by a lot of things about the People’s Budget Florida campaign: - The breadth...

Karen Young
Feb 13, 20242 min read


Point B: Vision is the starting point for progressive success
Welcome to SWOT Sunday! One of our key weaknesses, as defined by Deepak Bhargava in 2005, is that "progressives are not...clear about...

Karen Young
Feb 12, 20246 min read


Debt Jubilee: It was impossible, and now it seems inevitable
Welcome to Winning Wednesday! Talk about the Overton window! This is how it gets moved. The group Debt Collective, the nation’s first...

Karen Young
Feb 7, 20242 min read


Bad marketing strategy for Biden: death by laundry list
Welcome to Message Monday! It’s common knowledge these days that President Biden is failing to communicate the real achievements of his...

Karen Young
Feb 6, 20243 min read


How can we support Biden and still grow progressive power?
Welcome to SWOT Sunday! I added a new threat to my SWOT analysis. If Joe Biden were to lose the election to Donald Trump, it’s...

Karen Young
Feb 5, 20247 min read


Georgia Progressives Send A Message Re Budget Priorities
Welcome to Message Monday! Yesterday, when I was talking about what progressives need to do to build power within the Democratic...

Karen Young
Jan 29, 20242 min read


Progressive strategy for working with - or around - Democrats
Welcome to SWOT Sunday! We all know that progressives have to work with mainstream Democrats, at least some of the time, to build power...

Karen Young
Jan 28, 20249 min read


Razom fights for Ukraine with passion - and strategy
Welcome to Team Thursday, when I spotlight a worthy organization. Full disclosure, I am a sustaining donor to Razom, and have been since...

Karen Young
Jan 25, 20244 min read


Unions Flex For Gaza; Lessons for Progressives vs Dems
Welcome to Take Action Tuesday! Organized labor support for Palestinians and a ceasefire in Gaza is strong, often militant, and growing....

Karen Young
Jan 23, 20245 min read


Crisis? What Crisis? Let's Be Prepared
Welcome to SWOT Sunday! Weakness #2 Escalating crises favor the prepared - and we’re not prepared. As Milton Friedman said, “Only a...

Karen Young
Jan 22, 20243 min read


2 strengths and a weakness: Democratic/Progressive policy strategy
Welcome to SWOT Sunday! The strengths are related to progressive and Democratic Party policies vs GOP policies, and the resulting effects...

Karen Young
Jan 16, 202411 min read


1 big union with a strategy to change the South and the nation
Welcome to Team Thursday! We stay in the South for a third day of exciting developments that could one day tip the balance of power...

Karen Young
Jan 11, 20242 min read
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