Yes, it absolutely would be. Everyone has their own story. Focus on the people who are open to your allyship instead. Engage with them, ask questions, learn, be open-minded, and keep moving forward. What I do know with absolute certainty: We can move on without knowing the answer to this question for two reasons:. One, I know a ton of queer people who are super ally friendly.
The Hard Place
So if you are trying to learn more about how to be a good ally, to understand the issues and perspectives, and have quality, safe conversations, these people are there. If it makes you feel cooler, think of yourself as Batman, allying in the shadows, looking for no thanks other than the satisfaction of cleaning up a city with a dark underbelly and an impressively ineffective criminal justice system. Focus on the rocks, not the hard places. The more public you are about your allyship, the more likely you will have some positive experiences you can use as fuel to keep moving forward.
And you can watch this video that was shared with me that addresses the particular rock and hard place I was in the last couple weeks, and consider it all the permission you need:. I'm Sam Killermann , an activist, educator, and artist. Here are some other sites I've made that you might dig:. I wrote a book for you!
It's called A Guide to Gender 2nd Edition: The Social Justice Advocate's Handbook. It's just like this website, but instead of being made out of code, it's made out of murdered trees. Then you'll appreciate this book I co-authored it with Meg Bolger. By negotiating over price, quality and delivery terms, they divide that pie.
The players in the value net continually seek to change the game to create and claim more value. Ford carefully fosters competition among its suppliers and manufacturers critical components in-house to ensure that the company does not become too reliant on a single source for key parts. As part of its strategy to change the game, Ford announced in that it would cooperate with General Motors and Daimler Chrysler to create a huge new electronic procurement exchange to leverage electronic transfer of data and reduce procurement costs.
Its suppliers were understandably uneasy. Government rule makers and referees shape businesses' ability both to initiate and to defend against these strategies—to play offense or defense in value-net games. Specifically, the ability to make game-changing moves is constrained by laws and regulations governing competition, antitrust, intellectual property, product approval processes, and technical standards. When governments review applications for mergers and acquisitions or hear legal cases concerning intellectual-property rights or takeover disputes, they are acting as rule makers and referees in value-net games between businesses.
Consider, for example, the debate about Napster, the online service for sharing digital and music files. Napster triggered a firestorm of outrage in the music industry about piracy of music. Dre and the heavy metal band Metallica sued Napster for copyright infringement late in But is was unclear how intellectual-property law applied to such an innovation, so Napster's opponents also pursued a legislative remedy and persuaded key senators to hold hearings in the summer of The results of the court case are still undetermined, but in November , Napster took a step toward legitimacy by arranging a deal with media giant Bertelsmann AG to develop a legal version of the music-sharing service.
Because governments can influence the outcomes of value-net games, many companies seek to involve rule makers and referees to gain advantage. Moves to influence government are commonplace when playing defense against others' strategic initiatives. Sometimes businesses appeal to rule makers and referees not to win but to deter weaker players by disrupting or delaying their plans or imposing burdensome penalties.
Delay is often a valuable side effect of government involvement in value-net games. Global Crossing, a small player in the telecommunications industry in , has recently emerged as a major force in the long-distance fiber-optic cable market.
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One reason for its success is its savvy use of the government's refereeing function to slow down the competition. Such approvals normally take about two months. Global Crossing, whose own fiber link across the Pacific was scheduled to begin service at about the same time, petitioned the FCC to delay approval of the cable and to investigate whether the consortium inhibited competition. The FCC finally approved the new cable in July , and also announced that it would launch a broad inquiry into the undersea-cable business.
Global Crossing's carefully constructed lobbying campaign earned it a six-month lead. Alongside their roles as rule makers and referees, governments often function as players—customers, suppliers, competitors, or complementors—in businesses' value nets. When this is the case, it is important to think through the implications for your strategy. The government players involved can be state or federal, domestic or foreign—and all may influence matters.
Procurement, for example, can be extremely political, particularly when dealing with governments in foreign markets. Long-standing collusion between officials and the industry had discouraged competition and excluded outsiders from winning bids. Sam took an important role in orchestrating financing for the Olympia Farmers Market Community 37kw Solar installation, one of a handful of Washington State's successful large scale solar installations financed by community members.
My colleague, Eileen V. Pictured here with his co-conspirators—Graeme Sackrison, Randy Zimmerman, Tom Crawford, and Stewart Henderson Sam at far left —she recalled Sam's impatience and passion about addressing climate change. After the Workshop and Action Plan were completed, he agitated for action, checking in regularly to see what had happened with all that came out of the two-day brainstorming session among Thurston's community leaders.
At the same time, he was busy getting himself educated about how to finance community solar and putting his money where he mouth was by helping to fund the Farmer's Market project. Sam and his wife Chris moved to Washington nine years ago and he immediately immersed himself in our community.
As a relative newcomer to WA, Sam came to our attention when he organized 95 citizen volunteers to gather signatures for I He set a record, personally collecting 3, voter signatures and met the community of Washington State clean energy advocates in the process.
A Very Musical Farewell to Brekky Producer Ally
There are now 20 states with similar provisions. Garst brought experience and political savvy to his grassroots efforts because he had served the Carter Administration as a lead USDA lobbyist working for an energy bill, and it showed in his successes. His objective was to generate enough energy at their home to power both their Leaf and their plug-in Prius.