Helping the Good Do Better

I believe we are in a dark moment, perhaps one of the darkest in recent American history. The light at the end of the tunnel seems dim and distant most days. The current political landscape has left most good people, regardless of party affiliation or ideology, wondering What can I do? and Can I make a difference?

But there are flickers of light in the darkness, and they are growing, illuminating a path forward. These points of light come from us—the people of America who are answering the questions above with active and deliberate participation in the process that makes democracy powerful. Good can and does win, but it must get in the fight.

In the battles I have fought over the past three decades, when I’ve found myself losing, it was not because the opposition was better or their ideas were right—it was because good people were on the sidelines. Madeleine Albright’s recent book, Fascism: A Warning, is a sober reminder that evil only wins when good abdicates.

I am an optimist by nature. I look at the moment we live in now and hope that it is the darkness before the dawn. I can see elements of a new day in the November 2018 “blue wave” of more progressives, women, African Americans, Native Americans, Muslims, LGBT members in the House of Representatives. I see it in the unprecedented numbers of new voters registering, in the vigor of young people (shout-out to the Parkland kids), in the growing demands for a new political order, and in shifting demographics and political ideology.

My optimism arises in part because I’m assuming that if you’ve picked up this book, you want to help make the world a better place—and that’s great, because the world needs you. Our country needs you. As the old saying goes, when there’s a will, there’s a way. I’ve learned this firsthand after spending my career as a public interest lobbyist tackling some of the most pernicious problems facing American society. Through many ups and downs and with the help of many partners and collaborators, I’ve seen great successes arise from some of society’s biggest challenges—progress that wouldn’t have happened without a problem to tackle and solve. In this book I want to share with you what I’ve learned about how brave efforts can and do create great leaps forward.

I, too, have been struggling since Election Day 2016 to find the right words to share and the right strategies to recommend. From crisis arises opportunity, and from the darkest moments shine forth the brightest lights. I know this because I have lived it. This is exactly the moment for the thinking, caring, compassionate “good people” and “better angels” among us, including us, to act. I hope the actions you read about in this book clearly show you that there is an answer to “What can I do?” In each story I tell in these chapters, a person just like you asked that question and answered it with actions that have changed the world for the better.

On the ground, each and every day, your work already helps make the nation a better place. You staff food pantries in church basements. You feed the hungry. You care for the sick. You cultivate boards to help achieve your mission. You raise funds, do outreach, organize events. You make America great. You may have been doing the good work for years now, or you may have just begun. Now, you have been presented with both an opportunity and the responsibility to be the glue that holds our nation together. Applying the lessons from this book helped pass vital social impact legislation in the past—and now, it can help you seize this moment.

Today’s challenge, for the entire country, is to step up, lean in, push harder, and take action. Don’t take the path of least resistance or, worse, stay silent in hopes of better times. Doing good requires more than just programs and services. It requires coordination, organization, and a new emphasis on and dedication to advocacy. Participating in advocacy is no longer a luxury—it is a necessity. Good can’t happen if our government isn’t forced to protect those who can’t protect themselves. Good can’t happen if there is no vision, no courage, and no strategy to make our voices heard in the halls of government.

I know that for many, budgets are tight and resources scarce. I also know some of you reading may have never done this type of work before. But when history recalls how America recovered from this dark moment, I want it said that it was the people who stepped in and embodied our national motto, e pluribus unum—out of many, one. That it was the people who ensured that this remains the driving principle of America and ultimately the thing that retained and expanded her greatness.

When citizen activists have combined grassroots passion with smart political strategy, they have won some of the most transformative policy fights of our generation. In my experience these accomplishments come about when visionaries and activists team up with “white hat” lobbyists—people who understand the power of politics and who are able to put it to work to serve the public interest. For twenty-five years I’ve worked to master the art and science of winning for public interest causes. The culmination of that experience is presented here in a new theory for social change that I call the three P’s. Successful campaigns and movements must possess a lobbyist’s approach to policy, politics, and press; this is the formula for success. In my experience, leveraging the three P’s, with true passion and discipline, can create results that are nothing short of awe-inspiring. At the end of each chapter I highlight some takeaway prescriptions for the reader, and there you can see how we applied the three P’s for that particular issue.

In this book I offer lessons from the trenches on how some of this generation’s most defining social issues—AIDS, disability rights, global poverty, cancer, human trafficking, national service, and social entrepreneurship—engendered landmark federal policies. I hope to inform, inspire, and entertain you, and to illustrate how we can apply a new formula for social change to create lasting impact, whether as engaged citizens, policy makers, supporters, or allies. More important, I want you to have an unvarnished view of the work, the required compromises, the personal tolls, the skills you develop after losing, the awesome power of democracy in action, and the sustaining effort to make change last.

Helping the Good Do Better pulls back the curtain on the corridors of power in Washington to reveal how social change really happens—from grassroots activism of ordinary citizens to presidential executive orders. This is not a textbook or a white paper. It’s the story of my life’s work and that of so many others—victims, culprits, constituents, representatives, allies, and opponents—who were at the table when policies were debated, tragedies suffered, and battles won. Each chapter tells the story of how a particular issue—often peripheral in society’s eye at first—became legislation at the center of public debate, and with each one come valuable lessons on how we can win the battles we’re fighting right now. Some efforts succeeded, and some failed, but each case provides powerful takeaways on how coalitions are built, political strategies crafted, and dominant interests challenged in high-stakes, no-holds-barred political battles. Some of the friends and colleagues who worked closely with me on these issues have provided their take. Throughout the book you’ll see them giving a second view, providing their thoughts and perspectives on the stories I share.

Though the goals were different and the actors varied, I found a few things to be universal: even when a strong individual leader is present (and often one is required), every achievement is the result of collaboration. Building a strong coalition is intrinsic to success on a large scale. It requires symbiosis: each stakeholder has to recognize and understand how the partnership will benefit them and why they are a benefit to others. Second, winning requires strategy. Luck, good timing, and money all help, but an informed, strategic approach is required in order to achieve lasting effects.

People frequently act surprised when I tell them I’m a social worker. I think they assume all lobbyists are lawyers and that all social workers wear tunics and Birkenstocks. I get why folks are confused by my collection of power suits. But I’m proud of being both a social worker and a professional lobbyist—I believe my role is first and foremost that of advocate. My goals are to create change and solve human problems.

My very first job as a social worker set me on the path toward being a lobbyist. I was hired to open the first group home for developmentally disabled adults in my hometown. The first task was to request a zoning change—if you ever want to see raw, nasty political fights, go to a zoning board meeting. I’ll save the details for later, but suffice it to say that things quickly got complicated, personal, and ugly. Soon my mom was driving ten more minutes over the state line to do her shopping in New Jersey rather than at the local grocery store so she wouldn’t run into the neighbors and townspeople. That first experience said it all: there really is no change unless you do the hard work that comes with it.

No sooner had we gotten the group home open and operating than the national political mood shifted with the election of Ronald Reagan to the White House (yes, elections have consequences). Suddenly and swiftly our entire budget supporting the home was threatened—cuts to every program for people with disabilities were proposed and passed within a year after the Reagan Revolution. That moment was my second fight—organizing every family member of our group home and all the staff and friends of staff I could muster. We raised hell and brought our issue directly to our congressman’s office (he was a Republican). And we brought the press with us.

Our programs were spared, but the threats persisted. My fight to save the group home drew some attention, and I was offered a fellowship with the National Association of Social Workers in Washington, DC, and a chance to complete a master’s degree at Catholic University of America in one year. I jumped at the opportunity, as I saw a path to more advocacy and greater impact. Not that my career proceeded smoothly from there. At the age of thirty, I borrowed $10,000 to venture out on my own, doff the aforementioned white hat, and found the Sheridan Group. I told my dad I would find enough work to pay him back within six months. I kept my promise.

When I started the Sheridan Group I was trying to take what I knew and share it with more than just one single-issue group at a time. The Sheridan Group’s first client was the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, which donated a used fax machine to the “office”—a spare bedroom on the third floor of my townhouse.

A lot has changed in the twenty-five years since I founded the firm, but the goal has remained the same: to create effective strategies for socially responsible public policy initiatives. Our motto is “helping the good do better.” Over the years, the Sheridan Group has become the go-to firm in the nation’s capital for coalition-building and grassroots advocacy for nonprofits, social entrepreneurs, and other agents of change. I have spent my career using pragmatic politics to translate idealism into transformative public policy. It’s not just about winning the fight, but about learning how to use all of the tools of policy, politics, and press to succeed in battle, again and again.

Jeanne White fought for and won an AIDS funding bill in the name of her dying son, Ryan; Bono and Jesse Helms came together to fight poverty in Africa; religious conservatives and liberal activists teamed up to pass the most important anti-trafficking bill of a generation—these scenes from twenty-five years in Washington fighting for the voiceless offer lessons about how Washington works, why politics matters, and how to win.

I hope you’ll find these stories from the trenches to be funny, tragic, surprising, and memorable. But beyond spinning a good yarn, though I like to think I come by that skill honestly (thanks to my Irish roots), I hope you’ll use these stories to apply the lessons in your own careers and pursuits in the public interest. And though you’ll recognize some boldface names from pop culture, history, and politics, you’ll also see that sometimes the best advice comes from the most unlikely advisors.

This is the updated battle plan for those who are ready to fight the good fight: social entrepreneurs, corporate CEOs, nonprofit managers, organizers, activists, philanthropists, and bloggers. We can all do our part to make government work for the people in order to create real and lasting change. Let’s get down to business. There is more work to do.