The Tao of Activism and Leadership
Date Recorded: Jun 7th, 2006
Recorded At: Vancouver, B.C.
Recorded By: Thomas Hicks, Necessary Voices Society
Duration: 60:00
Topic Background
Activists are motivated to effect change for a number of reasons, not the least of which is often anger, even rage. Anger at injustice, destruction, lies, irresponsibility, greed, short sightedness, the list could go on and on. Stephen Legault maintains that the reason we’re angry at something is because we love something else, and In Carry Tiger to Mountain, he writes about how activists need to replace their vocabulary of conflict – that of a struggle, a fight, or a clash, — with one of compassion.
He believes that activists can learn from the wisdom of the Tao Te Ching, to prevent the mistakes that he perceives activists keep making. Specifically, he advises his readers to trade their anger and fear for love and compassion, their egos for selflessness, and their fixation on complexity for simplicity.
Speaker Biography
Stephen Legault has been a social and political activist since the late eighties. He has founded or co-founded four conservation organizations, including the national conservation group Wildcanada.net , and has worked with various groups and associations across North America. Carry Tiger to Mountain: The Tao of Activism and Leadership is his first book, published in April, 2006. Currently, he helps ethically driven businesses create consumer activists around the issues of climate change, wilderness, waste and fair trade. He lives in Victoria, BC