New Power and the Future of Volunteer Engagement

Let me be begin with a confession. I had a tough time making sense of 2017. The nasty political and social landscape made me second-guess truths I’ve never really doubted. Fundamental stuff like -- kindness matters, lying has consequences and being a jackass will eventually catch up with you. It felt like I spent much of 2017 hunkered down with these old truths worrying that a bomb cyclone of intolerance and incivility would blow the roof clean off.

If 2017 taught me anything it was how fragile values, communities and even democracies really are.

Fortunately for me -- and you -- my friends Jeremy Heimans and Henry Timms weathered the storms of 2017 by writing a book to try and make sense of it all. The result is New Power: How Power Works in Our Hyperconnected World -- and How to Make it Work for You

The book tells the behind the scenes stories of how 'new power' -- the power of participation and engagement at scale -- can disrupt the control and concentration of 'old power' to reshape everything from politics, to business to the social sector. What makes it so readable is that it tells the stories of both success and failure. From #BlackLivesMatter, to Facebook, to Boaty McBoatface you'll learn about both the promise and pitfalls of those who have used new power to try to reinvent the future.

The book echos the early idealism of the web to democratize power, but it is wizened by experience and a sharp eye for why some ideas like #GivingTuesday have endured while other like Occupy have fizzled.

What perhaps was most refreshing about Heimans and Timms account of new power is that they don't promise it will magically make the world a better place. Instead they remind us that it is only a tool and can just as easily be used for bad as it is for good. Think ISIS and Russian hackers. Unlike the inevitable tech-utopia some once imaged the authors are clear that our future is a battle between old and new, and good and bad.

The future will be a battle over mobilization. The everyday people, leaders, and organization who flourish will be those best able to channel the participatory energy of those around them.

New Power embodies the spirit of democracy, voluntary association and the power of purpose. But perhaps its greatest lesson is what 'old power' institutions always seem to forget -- that people really don't like to be told what to do, they like to be asked to make a difference. New Power unpacks this truth and is a must read for emerging leaders to understand the extraordinary power that comes from successfully inspiring and engaging voluntary action.

In its last chapter New Power also frames what is one of the most urgent public policy issues of our times -- how corporate commercialization and consolidation of the web by old power interests threatens to co-opt participation and the flow of new power. Facebook and YouTube, for example, are described as new power models with old power values. They are, of course, not simply open platforms for communication and exchange, they are also sophisticated ad platforms optimized to advance the interests of those paying the bills.

These dominant 'participation farms' as the authors describe them can systematically constrain and control the influence of its user's participation. Brexit and the recent Cambridge Analytica scandal are two good examples of how powerful digital platforms can be manipulated and why there is growing interest in strengthening new power platforms where the values and economics of the system are more effectively aligned with the interests of its users and the public good. Kickstarter, Wikipedia, DonorsChoose, Crisis Text Line, GoFundMe, Code for America, Kiva, Change.org and VolunteerMatch may not yet be the norm, but they are all compelling examples of social enterprises designed to strengthen and scale new models of participation and engagement in the digital age.

We all need to build models -- and seek out models -- that help everyday people like us gain a sense of ownership and connection to one another and to society at large.

New Power is a timely book at a critical moment that invites all of us to better understand how the world works so that we can rekindle our public spirit and come together across sectors to reclaim the extraordinary power of voluntary association to strengthen our communities, our democracy and our future.

I invite you to read it because we are going to need your help.

Greg Baldwin is a public policy major from Brown University and the CEO of VolunteerMatch.org