In a 2018 post entitled 25-10-3 I referred to research that showed that in some cases small groups of committed individuals who want to influence society require at least 25% participation to effect change. In cases where people have an unshakeable belief, such as religious zealots or fervent believers, then you only need 10% participation in the change movement. Additionally, to effect change inside an organization as few as 3% of the organization — the influencers — can reach 85% of the organization.
A recent study in Nature — What the climate movement’s debate about disruption gets wrong — concludes that efforts for change must be targeted to the influential elites and public opinion is less important.
Climate organizations need a strategy that can impose sustained and escalating costs on the elite sectors that can force government and businesses to confront the climate emergency. Priority targets include the institutional actors that enable fossil fuel production through their investments, loans, underwriting, purchases, and legal and regulatory rulings. That includes entities like banks, insurance companies, asset managers, pension funds, universities, school districts, public transportation boards and housing agencies, environmental regulators, judges, and employers across all industries. The recent growth of campaigns focused on these targets provides promising opportunities for climate organizers everywhere.
The people who can lead the climate movement to greater success are those who are Doers, Connectors, and Catalysts because they are the most trusted by their peers. Super-connectors are a mix of all three — they get things done, they connect across boundaries, and they catalyze the actions of others. So don’t expect change to emerge from think-tanks or academic institutions where we find the Professors, Stewards, and Experts. Focus on mobilizing the trustworthy. The climate movement needs less professing and more doing.
