Who shapes the conversations that shape our world?

Our country is at a critical crossroads, as compounding social, political, economic, and environmental crises threaten our collective future. Conversations about how to understand and respond to this moment unfold within our modern public squares—on social media; on mainstream and alternative news platforms; in books and magazines; in movies, television, music, and theater; and at conferences and gatherings across the country.

So it begs the question: Who architects these conversations? What voices and narratives tend to dominate? What perspectives are often left out? How do ideas move from the margins to the center of public awareness and concern?

Understanding how particular perspectives gain widespread traction in this particular, and totally unprecedented media environment, will be crucial for those concerned with racial and economic justice, peace, health, safety, climate action, and other pressing issues.

FRESH Speakers is an organization created to counteract homogeneity in our public square and the way it makes us dumber, our systems less just, and our imaginations anemic. We envision a world where the widest number of people, with the broadest range of experiences and expertise, bring all their fantastic ideas to the table–”bending the arc” together, if you will.

Since the founding of FRESH, ten years ago now, a new phrase has entered the lexicon: narrative change. There are many definitions of narrative change, but we like Trevor Smith’s (of Common Future):

“Narrative change is a shift in the stories that guide our values and shape how people make meaning of information and experiences. It requires knowing what narratives you’re up against, and putting narratives out there that counter these stories.”

In the age of misinformation, narrative change is becoming more and more valued as one of the most effective strategies for changing hearts and minds. Ai-jen Poo has mastered this as one of the most effective narrative change strategists out there by creating a national conversation about care work in the U.S. She said on our podcast, “[Those of us who talk about the importance of changing hearts and minds are mainly working in the realm of changing minds and less hearts. And that what the muscle that we really need to build is really around hearts, and how to reach into and navigate our emotional landscape as humans.”

Over the past year, we have been exploring important questions related to narrative change: How do seemingly radical ideas enter the public conversation? What do the most effective organizers and thinkers understand about themselves and the media landscape that helps them succeed? How do they use their most valuable resources—time and attention?

We have sought out the insights of those who have successfully shifted societal narratives on the causes they care about. This report shares lessons from eight impactful leaders who work on pivotal issues: Bridgit Antoinette Evans (storytelling and cultural activism), Ayana Johnson and Katherine Wilkinson (climate justice), Aisha Nyandoro (wealth redistribution), Angela Patton (empowerment for black girls), Ai-jen Poo (care organizing), Edgar Villanueva (decolonizing philanthropy), and Shannon Watts (gun reform). Informed by their perspectives, we provide creative and sometimes surprising approaches to bringing radical ideas to the center of the national conversation. These suggestions challenge assumptions about what it takes to be an effective communicator in the public arena.

We begin by offering a critical contextualization of “thought leadership,” which we hope clarifies why particular demographics and perspectives can dominate public conversations and what the true cost of that really is for our country. We then move to a discussion of five key strategies for those who are working to expand the public imagination and galvanize action, not just from the margins, but also in the mainstream.

Defining and Deconstructing the Term “Thought Leadership”

The term “thought leadership” originated in the corporate sector around the same time that neoliberal policies became ascendent. Although the exact origin of the term is difficult to trace, its usage gained prominence in the early 1990s when Charles F. Knight, the former CEO of Emerson Electric, popularized the concept. For Knight, thought leadership allowed companies to differentiate themselves from their competitors and position themselves as “industry trailblazers.” Emerging from the competition embedded within capitalist enterprise, the concept indicated the forms of expertise and innovation that served corporate interests.

Over time, the term “thought leadership” has expanded beyond the corporate world into other domains including journalism, academia, politics, and culture. It has become a catch-all phrase for individuals and organizations that provide innovative thinking, unique perspectives, and influential ideas that shape and guide their respective fields. Thought leaders are now those who publish articles, deliver speeches, participate in conferences, and engage in public discussions in a broader sense. Unfortunately, while thought leadership is all about making change, too much has stayed the same in terms of who is given the proverbial bullhorn and the power to decide.

Those in positions of power within journalism and media organizations remain overwhelmingly white and male. According to Pew, 77% of people who work as reporters, editors, photographers, and videographers in the newspaper, broadcasting and internet publishing industries are white. As a result, far less BIPOC and women’s voices are included in the news; In a report of over 1,500 media guest appearances in 2021, women accounted for 32% of guests and BIPOC guests were just 27%, Researchers have confirmed similar demographic representation in other types of media: on television and radio, on op-ed pages, at conferences, and in podcasting. BIPOC+, women, LGBTQ, and disabled people are underrepresented as gatekeepers, speakers, and writers. This poses a problem for all of us – when the public isn’t hearing the best ideas from the widest range of people, everyone loses.

The leaders discussed within this report have been successful in popularizing their ideas, through strategic—and often a highly collective—approach. Rather than the competitive ethos that typified the corporate origins of thought leadership, they demonstrate a method of taking and sharing space that can have policy and cultural impact of real note. Leaders are increasingly rejecting the “sage-on-a-stage” mentality; instead, they harness collective leadership (as opposed to being a lone hero), patience (as opposed to rapid reaction), and self-care (as opposed to mindless productivity).

What follows are five insights for popularizing radical ideas that we sourced from transformative communicators in our network: 1) the challenge is the gift; 2) ecosystem of players; 3) both/and of timing; 4) insider-outsider strategy; and 5) balance of discomfort and care. Utilizing these approaches will help anyone who aims to reach wider audiences and find long-term momentum for shifting public opinion, policies, and systems.

1. The Challenge is the Gift

We commonly associate leadership with qualities such as assertiveness, charisma, extroversion, and achievement. And yet, some of the most effective leaders we interviewed do not fit this typical mold. Their strengths lay in more unconventional attributes, which become important assets for them. Far from the stereotype of the perfect student or the high-energy extrovert, many of these individuals embraced nonconformity, introversion, and neurodivergence, which helped them achieve success in their own unique ways.

Take, for example, the story of Angela Patton, a leader in empowering black girls. Patton was far from the ideal student; she often found herself suspended for challenging authority and disrupting the status quo as a young person. Despite being labeled a troublemaker by some, teachers recognized her potential for making a significant impact. Her yearbook was filled with notes from classmates predicting that she would do big things in the world. Patton’s rebellious nature, while disruptive in a traditional sense, seemed to be what set her on the path to leadership–not only because she was dogged, but able to see why automatically following authority was not always the most just or interesting thing to do.. Individuals like Patton, who challenge established norms and find their own way, are often the ones who rise to leadership roles.

Similarly, gun reform activist Shannon Watts attributes her success to an unconventional trait: neurodivergence. In reflecting on her experience, Watts shared that it was her ADHD that enabled her to stay focused on gun violence issues without burning out. She periodically worked 10 to 12 hours a day without feeling exhausted. Her unique patterns of focus and attention became a strength, something she credits as a key factor in her organizing successes.

Listen to The Greenroom podcast

Many influential leaders are not the charismatic figures we might expect. Extroverted leaders can sometimes be less effective at motivating others than their introverted counterparts who bring other means of connection. Reciprocal leaders—those focused on mutual exchange and collaboration—can be more introverted, yet they often inspire greater commitment in their followers.

Effective leaders can gain respect, not through conventional markers of status and success, but through embracing their innate gifts and temperaments, and the insights gained from their lived experiences.. These leaders remind us that the qualities we often see as weaknesses—introversion, neurodivergence, and rebelliousness, for example—can be the precise traits that help us build trust, inspire others, and create lasting change.

2. Ecosystem of Players

The media ecosystem is constantly shifting, and navigating these ever-changing conditions requires flexibility. Narrative change involves putting stories into circulation while knowing that their resonance depends on a variety of factors–some in one’s control and some outside of it. Those who are part of this ecosystem can understand that core messages may be shared and evolve in unexpected ways. This dynamic process can be harnessed to build momentum and foster collective engagement.

Bridgit Antoinette Evans offers a helpful framework for understanding narrative change. She describes the media landscape as a “narrative ocean” where many players interact to shape the stories we tell about ourselves and our communities, and there are always outside factors–akin to the weather–that shape the narrative norms in a given moment.. Within this undulating and unpredictable environment, impact is not guaranteed or concretely measurable. While this process is non-linear, there is potential for a significant impact through collective efforts. The goal is not to deliver a product, but to shift the pH of the narrative ocean and change the perception of key issues.

As such, narrative change works best when it involves a diverse range of people working in different mediums. An ecosystem of players—organizers, journalists, podcasters, artists, and many others—contributes to shaping wider conversations. This allows movements to utilize a diversity of strategies, harnessing more attention and reaching as many people as possible.

Climate activists Katharine Wilkinson and Ayana Elizabeth Johnson put this multi-pronged approach into action. They edited an anthology of writing by sixty women climate leaders titled All We Can Save (2020). Their publisher cautioned them that anthologies tend not to sell well or garner much engagement, as readers often gravitate toward the singularity of individual voices. Instead of organizing a traditional book tour, they co-founded The All You Can Save Project, where Wilkinson became Executive Director and created All You Can Save circles, so self-organized communities all over the world could use their open source curriculum to create their own local experiences of the book’s content. Over two thousand people have reported that they are leading local circles. Johnson describes how this amplifies the book’s impact: “the reading circle becomes an action circle and those people who read the book together, they’re like, well, what are we going to do now, now that we know all this stuff? And that’s the point.” Wilkinson and Johnson stress that strong movements must offer a clear path for everyone to be involved in the solution. They demonstrate how a diversity of media strategies can help instigate and inspire people to action.

Listen to The Greenroom podcast

Likewise, on Johnson’s individual book tour, she produced a series of climate variety shows that involved comedians, magicians, musicians, and dancers. Johnson is committed to a multifaceted engagement strategy, or in her words, “What if we hide the broccoli inside the candy jar?” Both books were bestsellers, while remaining aligned with their collaborative approach to climate activism and long term policy and culture change goals.

Importantly, Johnson leveraged her individual book deal to get this anthology sold, and Katharine and Ayana raised money from philanthropic sources outside of the book deal to get the anthology done quickly and craft and execute their engagement strategy.

3. Both/And of Timing

The concept of “both/and” emphasizes the need for both strategic preparation and seizing the right moments to create impact. Being ready for key opportunities, like breaking news, pop culture phenomena etc., can allow individuals and organizations to harness specific, timely events. It’s about recognizing pivotal moments when the public’s attention is at its peak and meeting these moments head-on.

Organizers must be proactive in positioning their message, but also realistic about the level of public attention they can command given the context of the news cycle. At certain times, public awareness can be a floodgate that suddenly opens. Events like destructive wildfires or regional flooding can provide an unfortunate moment to influence discussions about climate change, energy policy, and housing. Breaking through the noise can be difficult, so it’s important to be discerning about when and how to engage. To make an impact, leaders must proactively frame their message to align with current events, so that their audience feels the relevance and immediacy of the issues; this is often called a “newspeg.”

But in order to attach to a news peg, strategic preparation is essential. This means thinking strategically – and not just reactively – about issues, and getting creative about what might constitute a news peg. As The Op-Ed Project teaches, “The most effective communicators in the world don’t wait around for their issue to be considered timely by media gatekeepers,” but are proactive about “making their issue relevant.”

This was the case for Ai-jen Poo — a labor organizer with the National Domestic Workers Alliance and a leading voice in the women’s movement. In 2015, she put out a book called The Age of Dignity, which essentially argued that “care was the work that made all other work possible.”

But it wasn’t until the pandemic hit five years later that she found a frame–”care as infrastructure”– that really met the moment and galvanized her partners to share her rhetorical turn. She explains: “I’ll never forget the moment when Senator Casey from Pennsylvania made a floor speech in the Senate and he said, ‘Some people need a road or a bridge to get to work and other people need childcare and other people need home care.’ And it was this light bulb that went off.”

Timing can make or break narrative change, indicating the importance of strategic patience. Mass shootings have been an ongoing issue, yet each tragedy brings its own unique set of circumstances that create a renewed sense of urgency and relevance. The day after the shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, which claimed 26 lives, Shannon Watts launched a Facebook group called Moms Demand Action to rally women against the gun lobby. What started as an impromptu Facebook page quickly evolved into a grassroots movement, now with millions of supporters and chapters across the country. Tragic events often serve as turning points for mobilizing action.

The lesson here is two-fold: thought leaders need to 1. Be creative and strategic in ways that they might link their issues to the news of the day, whatever it may be, and 2. pounce when the broader context shifts in a way that makes a new frame salient or a meaningful connection with the public possible. In other words, both get started now and bring tactical patience to the task.

4. Insider-Outsider Strategy

Some of the most effective narrative activists we spoke with are adept at bridging different worlds and taking risks in spaces that may be new or unfamiliar. Leaders can embrace the discomfort of stepping into contexts where they may be considered an outsider, particularly in rooms dominated by people in positions of power. Activist work often requires a leap of faith, such as trusting individuals who may not share the same background. Engaging in conversations across forms of difference and speaking to uncomfortable truths can propel important shifts.

Edgar Villanueva, a key voice in decolonizing philanthropy, uses an approach that is bold and often uncomfortable, yet deeply rooted in recognizing the humanity in others. He suggests that curiosity about what drives people to change is a key part of pushing sectors to shift. Emphasizing the importance of calling people in, Villanueva affirms that each person has a role to play within processes of social transformation. Villanueva’s identity as an indigenous person plays into this in a significant way; as an “outsider” working within – and also critiquing – philanthropy. “[There’s] a very indigenous way of being that has always lived in my body and has not been tapped into because we’re so programmed to think differently when it comes to money…the idea of reciprocity and the practice [is] so fundamental to the worldview shift that we’re trying to make in this sector..”

Listen to The Greenroom podcast

Aisha Nyandoro, co-founder of the Jackson, Mississippi nonprofit Springboard to Opportunities, has found that connecting those inside her community with those outside of it has been crucial for her work. She pioneered a guaranteed income program for Black mothers experiencing poverty—the first initiative of its kind in the U.S. Aisha had to create catalytic relationships with a wide variety of people in the philanthropic and policy sectors–including The Economic Security Project co-founders Natalie Foster and Chris Hughes, a wide variety of philanthropists that funded the work, and journalists that covered it–to make this program a success, all the while focusing on keeping her true north the mothers who she was co-creating the program with. In other words she is, as she puts it, eternally “radically resident driven” but also fearless about creating relationships and collaborations with people very unlike her–geographically, racially, economically, professionally.

While feeling more comfortable in certain spaces, Nyandoro recognizes the need to bridge gaps between different communities. She says, “If we are truly going to shift values, we sometimes have to talk with folks that don’t always share the same ideologies that we share. And we are going to have to get comfortable with being uncomfortable and comfortable walking across the aisles and being in different spaces….I think, ‘How do we bring more people into this fight?’ [But] bringing people into the fight means that sometimes I have to actually take the fight to them, go to them and be where they are.”

A caution: when you are traversing borders to create catalytic relationships for a cause as Edgar and Aisha so often do, you have to be exquisitely self-aware about your own emotional health as it relates to storytelling, Activists may feel pressured to share deeply personal stories to explain the work they do–what can sometimes feel like “poverty porn”. It is important to not share one’s most vulnerable experiences, or the most vulnerable stories of your clients, partners, friends etc., unless the context feels safe and supportive. Having control over what, when, and how to share can help leaders maintain a sense of agency and navigate the complexities of insider-outsider dynamics with greater integrity, self-preservation, and effectiveness.

5. Balance of Discomfort and Care

Many of the leaders we spoke with noted the importance of balancing discomfort and care, when facing the gravity of pressing social and environmental issues. Climate activist Ayana Johnson emphasizes that, while it’s crucial to take climate change seriously, there’s also potential for creativity and joy in tackling the solutions. “[P]eople just need a pressure release valve and an invitation to be goofy and not take themselves seriously. And yes, we can take climate seriously, but we can have so much fun working on the solutions together.” There’s so much room for creativity. Blending seriousness with fun can help people stay engaged and active in social movements.

Leaders who do significant public speaking must find personal strategies to stay resilient while in outward facing roles. Ai-jen Poo has discussed this challenge within her work. While she is a highly visible figure, appearing frequently on the news and at prominent events is not something Poo enjoys. In fact, she openly admits to disliking public speaking, describing the experience as anxiety-provoking: “I don’t like being on camera. It really gives me a heart attack every time.”

Despite her discomfort with being in the public eye, Poo has come to view her participation as a necessity rather than a choice. The need for public engagement often pushes Poo out of her comfort zone. To cope with these moments, she has developed a routine of self-care. Before a big speech, she ensures she gets a good night’s sleep and wakes up early to practice yoga and meditation. These practices help her clear her mind, focus her energy, and calm her nerves.

This balance of pushing herself while caring for her needs is essential to Poo’s ability to show up publicly. Over time, she has come to understand her role not as a leader but as a messenger. She describes her voice as a “vehicle for our message and our vision,” aiming to touch as many people as possible. This shift in perspective—viewing herself not as a figure of authority but as a conduit for a wider movement—has allowed her to reconcile the discomfort that comes with her public profile. Leaders can strike a balance between facing challenges and staying grounded in what is replenishing and life-giving.

Produced by FRESH Labs. Support for this project was provided by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Foundation.