The Mission is Cultural Change

I learned many lessons while witnessing how Hugo Chavez brought radical change to Venezuelan society. He changed the country where I was born from a mediocre democracy to a strong authoritarian regime that forced me to leave with my family.

Change the culture to change the world

One of these lessons is that the nature of big radical social change is cultural. To change the world - for the better or for the worse - is about changing how a large group of people make automatic choices.

Seth Godin says it much better than me on this blog post

Day by day, inch by inch

Cultural change is not implemented quickly. It takes a lot of time to modify the behavior of a large group of people. To win that war of cultural change, you have to fight many battles. Some you will win and some you will loose - because the dominant culture pushes back. Be patient, persistent, consistent, resilient.

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I often forget that my work is about cultural change.

I want nonprofits to evolve from being perceived and operated as charities, to competitive organizations. Because the mission of the social sector is too important: trying the make the world a better place.

I also want to change the culture around justice. I want law and justice practitioners to approach their work as system designers. I believe that this will create fairer outcomes.

I also forget often how powerful a dominant culture can be. So often I am surprised and frustrated to find resistance where I expected support.