Activists vs. Entrepreneurs

Hey friends 👋,

This week, I finished reading Until I Am Free by Keisha Blain, a biography of Fannie Lou Hamer. Hamer was a Black voting rights activist from Mississippi in the 1960s. She's most known for her powerful testimony at the 1964 Democratic National Convention where she spoke directly and bluntly about the racism, discrimination and state sanctioned violence Black people experienced in America.

I started reading about Hamer a month or so ago while investigating what entrepreneurs can learn from activists. I've felt for a long time that both archetypes share a lot of common DNA. They boast contrarian ideals, a disdain for authority, and an ability to motivate people to take seemingly impossible risks. They're often hyper competitive, ruthless, and strategic. They're both obsessed with solving problems. And when successful, it feels like both groups can almost will change into existence.

I was having trouble really understanding the differences between these two groups, until I read more about Fannie Lou Hamer's life and legacy. Hamer wasn't a traditional civil rights leader like Martin Luther King Jr. or Roy Wilkins. She didn't believe in organizing around a singular magnanimous personality - even if people felt she was one. She lead her organization through committee. She cooperated with other organizations that had a more top-down approach to civil rights that was contrary to her own beliefs and self-interest.

She thought of the fight for justice in Mississippi as bigger than just Mississippi. She was demanding and fought for her constituents, but also knew that fighting against injustice was fighting against all injustice. Justice to her was a rising tide.

In 1967, she gave a passionate speech that laid out this inclusive and collective vision, “We have a long fight and this fight is not mine alone. But you are not free whether you are white or black, until I am free. Because no man is an island to himself. And until I’m free in Mississippi, you are not free in Washington; you are not free in New York...We're not free until we're all free.”

This mindset, I feel, is the small but fundamental difference between entrepreneurs and activists.

Activists care that the problem gets solved. Entrepreneurs care that they solve the problem.

Activists don't need to beat their competition. Activists need to beat the problem. If that means giving away your playbook to another organization when they want to host a rally in Mississippi, you do it. If that means spending months helping organize a historic southern march that a completely different organization will get credit for, you do it. If that means urging your constituents to support the work of other activists who literally shut you out of one of the most important civil rights committees, you do it.

How many entrepreneurs would willingly sacrifice their own resources and support their competitors for the good of their customers. That level of cooperation - of devotion to the problem above all else - is what makes an activist instead of an entrepreneur.

Hope you enjoyed this little vignette into what I've been reading/writing about this week. Thanks to everyone who responded with feedback to my short little intro last week! Very helpful!

As always, hope you and yours are well and thanks for being on this journey with me.