Lead from the Outside: How to Build Your Future and Make Real Change

I related to Abrams more than I thought I would; a book so focused on privilege is surprisingly universal. It's not about race or gender, it's about people who simply don't feel welcome. This obviously happens more often, and on a more fundamental level, for people from marginalized communities. But Abrams herself makes it clear this book is just as much for people who told they are too young, as it is for people who are told that women/POC cannot accomplish what white men can.

It's a bit cheesy, and less memoir-y than I expected. But it's a sweet and hopeful self-help book from somebody that genuinely wants to make the reader feel inspired. I'm sure writing this book was part of her spreadsheet's plan to become governor, but it reads show more like somebody who just wants to help and doesn't expect anything in return.

I like Stacey Abrams, and I expect we are only beginning to see her face and hear her name. There's more to come from her. show less

Fairly self-help-y about owning your power etc., which means I have to update my opinion about the advice because clearly she knows what she’s talking about. One pull quote: “I have never heard of a student refusing admission to an Ivy League college because her father is why she got into the top-rated school. Likewise, we ‘others’ must be bold in our acceptance of quotas as a way to advance.” Abrams also breaks down the different types of people who can serve mentor-like roles, including peers, and suggests strategies for maximizing their assistance to you, including being clear about what you want from them because most people who want to help you want you to help them help you.

I really admire Stacey and have donated to her campaigns, and was looking forward to learning more about her personal life. This ebook turned out to be primarily a motivation and strategy guide for those outside the power structure (due to race, gender, youth, or other) to have an impact on the world in politics or in other ways. So I was not the target of this book.

However, I really enjoyed her personal story that weaved in and out of the book, stories of her parents, her siblings, her education, and her struggles. I do feel I know her better, and admire her even more. And I was also intrigued that, in addition to all the other things she's accomplished, she's also written several novels. I will look for those, as well as "Our Time is show more Now" published in 2020.

Recommended to those interested in the topic. show less

February 20, 2021

Politicians make lousy writers: the innocuous platitudes of motivational speakers made more vacuous by a reluctance to say anything that might ever be controversial. If you're a good writer without anything in particular to say you become a lawyer, which appears to be advanced training in not saying much. Not always, of course, some great writers become lawyers in order to make a reasonable income or to improve the world

Abrams has already accomplished more than most and she's done a specific thing that I want to do: turned her state blue, so I am making myself listen in hopes that I will learn and possibly also do. Because I am tired of this shit

1 what is the problem 2 why is it a problem 3 how do you solve it, page show more 5
Primed to jump to the third question, page 6 busted I pick the country i want to live in, but same

Because I normally skip the exercises: minorityleaderbook.com/exercises

***

March 25, 2021

I finally did the exercises. And you know what? I have a clear and consistent vision of what I want from life and what I want to do and what I want for others. I want to read books. I want to post reviews and clean up my database. If I came into a lot of money I would give most of it away to people who have very good ideas for what to do with it, and I would hire someone to clean my house, possibly daily, and I would eat nothing but take-out. Canvassing for registering voters is something I would probably enjoy, but that is as close as I wish to come to politics.

***

28 March, 2021

I walk away knowing that Abrams is a very good writer, insightful, thoughtful, and a brilliant strategist as well as brilliant tactician. I am happy to have her lead the way on damn near everything, because she's good at considering stuff I don't want to think about. And somebody has to be looking out for that.

Library copy show less

I selected "Lead from the Outside" as a book to share with our WILL book club at work for July 2020.

Stacey Abrams is a force of nature. Angela Duckworth (author of "Grit") defined grit as passion and perseverance and Abrams makes an excellent poster child.

This month’s book selection is Lead From The Outside: How to Build Your Future and Make Real Change (2019) by Stacey Abrams.

Most of us are familiar with Stacey Abrams as the first African-American female to become the nominee of a major party in an election for a Governor in the United States. She ran in the 2018 race in Georgia and many believe that she was cheated out of winning due to corruption and blatant voter suppression. She previously served for over 10 years in the Georgia show more House of Representatives and most of those years as Minority Leader. She is an activist and is working on battling voter suppression to ensure that all American’s votes are counted. She is a leader in the Democratic Party and we expect to see much more of her in important roles in the future.

In her book, Lead From The Outside, Abrams tells stories from her life, as an outsider of the major institutions and systems in the United States, how she set goals and the steps she made to accomplish them. She describes the challenges that she faced and learned to blaze her own trail. As an outsider, the path was not easy and she often did not succeed on the first attempt. She had to believe in herself, set up a blueprint and tirelessly work on each step along the way.

Through her inspiring story, Abrams illustrates how you can learn to focus on what you are passionate about and imagine your future, then get to work on making it happen.

The format of the book encourages you to take action. Each chapter has reflections and workbook-style questions at the end for you to apply the insights to your own life.

To get the most out of this book, you really need to read it at least twice; the first time through read it for the content of Abrams’s life and insights, then read it again to work through applying it to your life by reflecting on the chapter questions and exercises. The book was originally published with the title “Minority Leader” and the exercises from the book are consolidated in a file that can be downloaded: minorityleaderbook.com/exercises.pdf

In a TedTalk (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zJHwOwirjA&list=PLUDPlxqbEkWtm92nPsvTgqb3N05yVSBPq), after losing the election as Governor of Georgia, Abrams describes a childhood memory when, as a valedictorian of her high school, she was invited to visit the governor’s mansion and was almost turned away at the gate when the guard told her “You do not belong here.” These messages cut deep. How often have we heard from minorities such as women, people of color, or LGBTQ who have experienced these words?

Abrams shared a declaration that has been her lifetime mantra, “I am going to go forward because going back is not an option and standing still is not enough.”

“Do not allow setbacks to set you back”, she advised.

Abrams asks herself these three clarifying questions in everything that she does:

What do I want?
Why do I want it?
How do I get it done?
She encourages us to understand why we want it since this is key to keeping us on track when we have setbacks. show less

At this point it isn't clear what Abrams next move is - run for GA gov again, VP on the Dem ticket next year? I am hopeful. This memoir/manual explains how to grab hold of opportunity as it bobs by in the stream. I cannot wait to learn what Abrams does next, she will have my full support.

As others have noted, this is an awkward mix of self help and political/personal memoir. I would have preferred none of the former. She’s great, though. I look forward to our collective future path. 🙂