63 Magazine - Issue 4

Letter from the Editor
Alice McAlexander
Welcome to the fourth issue of
63 Magazine.
Our first issue focused on helping you to
get and stay motivated for the challenging
work of being an organizer. Our second
issue provided guidance to help you be
a more effective, a more efficient, and a
more productive organizer. Our third issue
discussed ways to help you become even
better at building relationships.
In this issue, we’re talking about what it
takes to go beyond being a great organizer to
become an exceptional leader.
When you begin to lead, you transform from
someone who mobilizes people to someone
who creates lasting and impactful change
through empowerment and relationship
building. We want to provide a fresh
perspective that will help you become a
leader in your community and in your work,
making you an even better organizer.
Because leadership is such an important way
to increase the lasting impact of your work,
we’re featuring our country’s most effective
progressive leaders—President Barack
Obama and Presidential Nominee Hillary
Clinton.
President Obama, like many of you,
learned the meaning of leadership through
organizing. Organizing taught Obama that
true leadership—the ability to empower
others, to help others succeed, to connect
a variety of personal stories, hopes, and
dreams to winnable, specific action—comes
from listening first.
And Hillary Clinton has spent her entire
career working to improve the lives of
others, persevering through adversity to find
solutions to challenges big and small and
to build common ground among diverse
groups of people, all while showing empathy
and compassion. We take a look at the ways
Hillary embodies leadership to see how
you can use these same traits to be a better
organizer.
We also talked to so many other organizers
and experts about the work that they do
and the lessons you can learn from them. In
“Ask a Field Director,” Saumya Narechania
answers questions organizers like you are
struggling with right now. In our Turnout
Deep Dive, David Nickerson shares his tips
for improving your GOTV conversations.
Throughout the issue you will find all
sorts of ideas on how to improve your
organizing—such as advice on how to get
over your case of GOTV nerves, thoughts on
what you can learn from your political teams,
and some insight on why your health (yes,
that includes sleeping) is so important to
your success.
After you’ve spent some time soaking in all
of the wisdom offered by our many experts,
make sure to check out our final section
“Ready, Set, Action!” to recap the actionable
takeaways you can use right away.
Enjoy this issue and keep up the amazing
work! Δ