· how to win campaigns ·
Photo: Cover of "how to win campaigns".
Although I've occasionally dipped into the book How to win campaigns: 100 steps to success (by Chris Rose), I'd not read the book cover-to-cover. Until now.
This is an excellent resource for all campaigners. Here's a taster of some of the many gems I took from it:
- Campaigning is the art of the impossible.
- Effective campaign planners ... spend much more time thinking through the dynamics - the buck-passing and interests at play.
- Ask who's responsible for not implementing the solution, rather than just who's responsible for causing the problem. Whether it's through suppressing a solution or denying a problem, any party with the power to solve this is the problem-holder or problem-owner.
- ... you cannot campaign 'on an issue' or 'about an issue', only to change the issue.
- Don't assume we need to change minds.
There's also an excellent section on understanding support. The example given is Greenpeace UK: 0.5% joined Greenpeace, 5% said they would take action in a campaign, 30% said they took personal action in their [daily] lives, but 60% said they supported Greenpeace's aims and objectives. There's a lesson there for all of us ... how do we engage those that "support" us but don't join or donate or take action?
There's also a brief section on new media. The book was published in 2005 ... I suspect that if the author published this book today this section would be much larger.
Go get this book. I promise you will underline text and fold corners all the way through.
Friday June 20, 2008
Categories: Book-Review Campaigning
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