By Day Two, I decided I would lean in to the design and trust the experience. We spent time in the big groups and small groups, discussing issues like the science of relationships and how to talk across differences. Weavers shared deeply personal stories of trauma and how that has helped them to build trust and make connections. Journalists gave us tips on how to tell better stories about our work and encouraged us to capitalize on the fact that Americans gravitate toward \u201cwhodunit\u201d plots and crime dramas in which groups of people address and solve compelling problems together.<\/p>\n

And then I was more than a little starstruck when America\u2019s sweetheart herself, Katie Couric, stood up to facilitate a panel of weavers talking about \u201cthe neighborhood as the unit of change.\u201d We were finally getting to the importance of place in this work, AND the conversation was being led by my all-time favorite Today Show personality. During this panel, one of the speakers, Janet Topolsky of Aspen Strategies Group, asked us, \u201cHow do you meet people, not where the need is, but where they dream?\u201d This resonates in our work at StriveTogether. We can\u2019t stop at analyzing the problem; rather, we must look to the future.<\/p>\n

Later in the day, Eric Liu of Citizen University reminded us that America is a country founded on arguments. Anyone who\u2019s seen \u201cHamilton\u201d and enjoyed its epic rap battles knows this \u2014 America is both a democracy and a republic, a beautifully complicated melting pot for diverse peoples with conflicting ideologies. Arguments are a given. But Liu is challenging us to do better, because the more divided we become, the more stupid our arguments become. Liu encouraged us to have better arguments instead of unproductive ones on Facebook.<\/p>\n

My echo chamber has also become quite cozy and most of the readers of this blog are in it. But our work at StriveTogether is about changing systems, and systems are made up of people \u2014 people of different ideologies and political persuasions. We have to work across differences to achieve our results. To have better, more productive arguments, we must take winning off the table, build relationships, listen passionately, embrace vulnerability and be open. This mass multicultural democratic republic is an experiment, and weavers are leading the way because we know how to build connections and leverage relationships.<\/p>\n

By the end of Day Two, like so many others, I had shed some tears, questioned my own personal values, \u201cweaved\u201d with more than a few brilliant people during breaks to figure out how to work together to achieve our shared results.<\/p>\n