5 Lessons from Trump’s Election Win
ONE TRIBE
Ricken Patel Thoughts and Consulting
ABOUT ME
Connecting for Change
As Founding CEO of Avaaz for 16 beautiful years I used to write emails to 65 million people. Now I write for whomever signs up at this site, advise some of the world's leading change-makers, and am building my next dream. I'm a besotted dad of 3 scrumptious kiddies and happy husband to my amazing wife Jeaneal. I believe the world desperately needs transpartisan, nontribalist, and transformative vision and action. We need it to protect liberal democracy, humanity and life itself, partly through building a stronger, kinder, wiser culture. I'm keen to connect with others with whom I can make magic and grow in wisdom.
SIGN UP
Use the form below to get the best ideas, writing, insights and opportunities I can offer from a transpartisan, transformative perspective.
SEND ME A MESSAGE
If you have feedback, a question, or you're interested in working together, I'd love to know.
BIO AND MEDIA
From Wikipedia:
Ricken Patel (born January 8, 1977) is a Canadian–British activist and the founding President and CEO of Avaaz from 2006 until 2021. The Guardian called Avaaz "the globe's largest and most powerful online activist network" and called Patel "the global leader of online protest."
Patel was voted "Ultimate Gamechanger in Politics" by the Huffington Post, and listed in the world's top 100 thinkers by Foreign Policy magazine. He was also named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum, and listed as one of People Magazine's most eligible bachelors.
Patel was born in Edmonton, Alberta, to a Kenyan-born Indian father of Gujarati origin and an English mother with Jewish heritage.
Patel studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) at Balliol College, Oxford, where he helped organize against the 1998 introduction of tuition fees. He graduated first in his university class, and held leadership roles in student government and student activism. He has a Masters in Public Policy from Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government, where (mirroring his activism at Oxford) he helped lead the campus' highly publicized living wage campaign.
After leaving Harvard, Patel lived in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Sudan and Afghanistan, working on conflict resolution, civilian protection, and good governance for organizations including the International Crisis Group.
Patel has appeared frequently on dozens of major media outlets including CNN, BBC, CBC, MSNBC, GLOBO and Al Jazeera, and his writing has been published in dozens of major outlets including the New York Times, the International Herald Tribune, CNN, AllAfrica.com, the Associated Press, Globo, Times of India, Euronews, and many more.
If global public opinion is the new superpower, is Ricken Patel its Prime Minister?
The Times of London
...his subject in each case, really, is culture with a small c – whether it’s the beery work-shyness of his fellow students, the victim narratives of the soldiers in Sierra Leone, or the paper-shuffling of NGOs. His motto might be: it’s the culture, stupid.
https://www.economist.com/1843/2013/12/25/the-man-behind-avaaz
The Economist - Intelligent Life
Patel is earnest, though not in a hey-dudes-let's-save-the-planet sort of way. Or a I-feel-the-people's-pain of a politician up for re-election. He's thoughtful and reflective and has an impressive CV – he worked as a conflict analyst for organisations such as the UN and the Gates Foundation in places like Liberia and Afghanistan. He isn't a wide-eyed still-wet-behind-the-ears college student. Nonetheless, he does want to change the world. And he believes he can.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/nov/17/avaaz-online-activism-can-it-change-the-world