I read the title and instantly envisioned a beautiful waterfall with water cascading down the side of a breathtaking rock formation. I could almost hear it. That image brought forth an image of a tropical paradise. I think it might be pretty common to summon this peaceful image at the end of a very challenging semester. Thinking of these images, this fictious place brought me joy in the midst of the stress from trying to meet the final deliverables for this semester. I cracked the spine of the book with a pleasant smile on my face. As I read the title in its entirety, I realized that this book is about how to create transformational change and not about a tropical paradise with breathtaking waterfalls. Greg Satell describes cascades as forces of nature. A collection of small groups, loosely connected, but united by a common purpose. He is not describing my peaceful waterfall but describing an event that prompts radical change.
\nWhen I was 17, I participated in my first Civil Rights March with my Daddy and my brother and 50,000 other protesters. It was life changing. It was the dead of winter in 1988 and at that time, my Daddy was the President of the Nashville Chapter of the NAACP (National Association for The Advancement of Colored People). We traveled by bus to Forsythe, Georgia to protest the brutal beating of 50 individuals that had returned to the town to reclaim their family land. The black families had been run out of town after a young black boy had been killed after being falsely accused of raping a white woman. That event was a Cascade event. It set in motion a series of remarkable events that created transformational change, in the town of Forsythe and in the lives of people that marched for justice. For me, it was a turning point for me and caused me to shift where I decided to go to college and how I decided to use my voice. It was the first of many protests as well as marches, sit-ins and one very short-lived hunger strike.
\nThis book was an instruction manual for transformative change. I appreciated that Satell used the Nashville sit-ins as an example of a strategy for change. My parents were active in the sit-ins recall hearing stories of how important it was to have a plan and stick to it. The success of any strategy hinges in part on the execution of it. Satell states, \u201cThat\u2019s why, as crucial as it is to understand how cascades function, the second aspect of transformational change- organization, planning, and discipline- is just as important, because it\u2019s what allows us to put cascades in productive use.\u201d(1) Productive use is not frequently used in the same sentence as transformational change. In fact, I think that most people view change as disruptive.
\nThis book provides steps. The section on keystone change clearly outlines three criteria for success. They are:
\n1.\tA keystone change needs to be a concrete and tangible goal.
\n2.\tA keystone change unites diverse stakeholders in the Spectrum of Allies and the Pillars of Support.
\n3.\tA keystone change paves the way for futures change. (2)
\nThis idea that keystone change is tangible, unifying, and promotes future change is a shift from how change has recently felt in this country. It doesn\u2019t matter what side of the aisle that you find most comfortable for you, I think the mere mention of the word change causes fear to surface When I think of my stakeholder group, this cause me the most pause. I don\u2019t think that fear and change go hand in hand. How do I minimize the fear of change?
\nIn closing, I wanted to share this passage. I found it to be remarkable:
\n\u201cRevolutions are remarkable things because they do the opposite of what nature predicts. They upend an existing order, which has power and inertia on its side. And they do it with almost unthinkable speed. You wake up in the morning, and the world has changed overnight. No transition period, no forewarning. It\u2019s as if someone flipped the switch somewhere, and poof! The world begins anew.\u201d (3)
\nLoved Ones, I have a few questions for you before I conclude my final blog post this semester:<\/p>\n
1. Have you had a Cascade moment?
\n2. Will you share it with us?
\n3. How have you been changed by it?
\n4. Do you fear change?
\nMany Blessings to you, I pray that your summer is refreshing, relaxing and rejuvenating. See you in the Fall!<\/p>\n
1. Greg Satell, Cascades: How To Create A Movement That Drives Transformational Change (New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 2019),
\n 93.
\n 2. Ibid., 231.
\n 3. Ibid., 28.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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