how to be a movement leader

Rosa Parks, a seamstress from Montgomery, Alabama, would not give up her bus seat to a white man in 1955. Historians mark the date of her quiet-but-revolutionary act as the start of the modern civil rights movement in the United States.

But Rosa Parks was not just merely a seamstress. She had been involved as an activist for years: She attended a small black university in Montgomery for a few years and then worked for the Montgomery Voters League, the NAACP Youth Council and other civic and religious organizations. Having gained a reputation for getting things done, she was elected secretary of the Montgomery chapter of the NAACP in 1943.

Some people get really excited about starting a movement or being a part of a movement. What is a movement anyways?

Ken Cochrum describes the best definition he’s found, “A movement is a group of people who consciously, and at their own cost, connect to change the status quo.” Jay Lorenzen at OnMovements.com founds this definition: “a collective action that leads to political, social or cultural change.”

Movement Defined from Movement Builders, “An ongoing, informal group action that is inspired by a passionately shared idea and directed toward positive change.“

Socialmediatoday.com describes How to start a movement in 7 easy steps:

Step 1: Know Your Movement
Step 2: Get Educated
Step 3: Make it popular
Step 4: Rally the troops
Step 5: Set up communication
Step 6: Get Noticed
Step 7: Take it easy

eHow.com outlines 5 steps for How to Start a Grassroots Movement:

1. Define your movement.
2. Get body.
3. Find ways of keeping in touch.
4. Delegate.
5. When you have achieved critical mass, make your presence known.

Social Edge’s Your Micromovement” suggests 5 steps for starting your own movement [via bioteams]:

1. Publish a manifesto.
2. Make it easy for your followers to connect with you.
3. Make it easy for your followers to connect with one another.
4. Realize that money is not the point of a movement.
5. Track your progress.

However you slice and dice the ingredients for mobilizing a movement, to be a movement leader takes much more than organizational savvy. How to be a movement leader starts with a dream, a vision, a contagious passion. Then it’s spreading that passion to anyone and everyone, motivating them to take action, and persevering until the dream comes true.

(cf. Wikipedia entry on Social Movement, The Movement Leader as Hero)