PARTI IV

REDEFINING THE GAME

If we don’t leverage our collective economic, political, spiritual, and cultural power, we can never expect to control our own destiny in this country.

—Earl Graves, How to Succeed in Business Without Being White

We’ve waited until now to define exactly what we mean by “redefining the game” and “reshaping America” because these concepts are best explained in the context of Strategies 1 through 8. Here we’ll explore what it means to redefine the game and, in Strategy 10, we’ll do the same for reshaping America. But before we do that, let’s quickly review what it takes to be in a position to redefine the game.

Prerequisites to Redefining the Game

Perhaps not surprisingly, the prerequisites to redefining the game are captured in the previous eight strategies. To redefine the game, the following preconditions must be met:

Learning the Game (Part I)

You must know who you are and where you are going so that you remain grounded with a sense of direction (Strategy 1).

You must seek constant, ongoing exposure to new ideas, new ways of thinking, new cultures, and new experiences to promote multidimensional thinking (Strategy 2).

You must maintain a commitment to lifelong learning, growth, development, and being among the very best at whatever you do, in order to possess deep knowledge in certain areas and broad knowledge in other areas (Strategy 3).

In summary, as Mahatma Gandhi said, “You must be the change you seek in your world.”

Playing the Game (Part II)

You must foster personal diversity through relationships with people of many backgrounds (Strategy 4) because:

– These relationships help you to understand the broad issues that influence all people, especially disadvantaged people.

– These relationships enable you to mobilize across lines of difference, search for common ground, and facilitate change beyond a single group but for many groups.

These relationships are the fundamental building block of any change effort.

You must learn from the experiences of others and learn from failure to avoid repeating past mistakes (Strategy 5).

You must compensate for your own limitations by leveraging the strengths of others to build strong organizations and leverage team diversity (Strategy 6).

In summary, change is most effectively accomplished by working with others and learning from others.

Mastering the Game (Part III)

You must marshal the resources of existing institutions and challenge them to be more responsive to diverse people (Strategy 7), and/or:

You must establish new institutions that are responsive to diverse people and marshal their resources to create wealth (Strategy 8).

In summary, to facilitate change, you must think and act like a change agent.

What We Mean by “Redefining the Game”

It is only after you have learned the game, played the game, and mastered the game that you’ll be in a position to redefine the game. Here’s our definition:

To redefine the game you must synergize by creating mutually beneficial connections between people and between organizations to fulfill their collective purpose, and then reach scale by amplifying their collaborative actions to have the broadest or deepest possible impact in a way that levels the playing field for everyone.

That’s saying a lot, so we’re going to break it down piece by piece in Strategy 9: Synergize and Reach Scale. But for now, there are three things that are important for you to know:

1. Synergy and scale are the “inputs” or the mechanisms for redefining the game. Our brand of synergy is achieved by creating mutually beneficial connections between people and between organizations. It is bridging the network gaps that exist between people and between organizations (discussed in Strategy 4) to foster collaborative action (Strategy 6), and doing so in a way that benefits all parties involved. That means connecting people to other people and connecting organizations to other organizations that can benefit from working together and might not otherwise be connected. Reaching scale means going from “each one, reach one” to “each one, reach one hundred,” or “each one, reach one thousand,” or “each one, reach one million.” Scale is like a multiplier: It is an effect that translates collaborative action into amplified action.

2. Making an impact that levels the playing field is the “output” or the outcome from redefining the game. Impact speaks back to how you define success. It also speaks to your bottom line: financial or social or both (the double bottom line). If you are a statewide elected official, an outcome could mean reductions in crime. If you are the executive director of a national youth program, it could mean increased graduation rates. If you are the founder and CEO of an international public relations and event planning firm, it could mean increased revenues and profits.

3. Synergy and scale can lead to a “broad” or “deep” impact that redefines the game. In fact, the appropriate combination of synergy and scale can lead to “the broadest possible impact”—one that is wide-ranging and farreaching—or “the deepest possible impact”—one that is targeted and penetrating. A broad impact could be felt regionally, nationally, or globally, while a deep impact could be focused on a specific neighborhood, community, or issue (e.g., poverty elimination or environmental justice). Both impacts are representative of what it means to redefine the game.

The transition from mastering the game to redefining the game is the final inflection point on your journey because, like a lever, you are able to multiply your efforts by working with others who share a common agenda. The entrepreneurial mindset cycle and the two-sided approach, with both intrapreneurs and entrepreneurs mastering the game and working together, help fuel the mutually beneficial connections that lead to synergy, scale, and, ultimately, redefining the game, as shown in Figure IV–1.

Figure IV–1. From mastering the game to redefining it: intrapreneurship and entrepreneurship to synergy and scale.

Changing the Game vs. Redefining the Game

To be a game-changer is to be a change agent. However, those who redefine the game do not just facilitate change, they change the game itself. Your reach is broader or deeper when you are redefining the game. Redefining the game is about facilitating positive, lasting, widespread change.

“Playing the game” means accepting the rules of the game as they are stated. “Changing the game” means modifying the rules for the better. “Redefining the game” means restructuring the systems that once defined the rules to ultimately bring an end to the game itself. Playing the game and changing the game assume you are still working within constraints defined by other people. Redefining the game means that you are working outside of those constraints. You are redefining the problem, the solution, or how the solution meets the problem. In doing so, you are redirecting how resources flow inside and between companies, communities, government agencies, and organizations locally and around the globe. Because you are now competing on a grand stage, world-class excellence is required.

The fourth dimension of Black Faces in White Places is opportunity. This dimension leads us to ask questions such as, “Do I have equal opportunity to fulfill my destiny?” or “As an African American, will I ultimately encounter barriers that others may not necessarily face?” or “Will my life’s destiny be denied or encumbered because of my color, or will it be driven and empowered by my color?” The final piece of the puzzle for redefining the game is to facilitate lasting change that positively affects the lives of others and levels the playing field, giving future generations of African Americans and all Americans an equal opportunity to fulfill their destiny.

By synergizing and reaching scale—we can implement solutions to the problems facing African Americans and our country.