Connected evangelist becomes connected story teller

We’ve made a change in the Field Guide to Transformation. The role described by the Connected Evangelist made sense to people, but the word evangelist conjured up, for indigenous friends, both the white savior idea and ties to colonialism. I think they are right, and we are using Connected Storyteller instead; every culture, even western European ones, had story tellers and the connector who can tell the stories that get immigrant, indigenous or marginalized communities a hearing, can open doors because he or she is an insider is a key one for system change efforts to get traction.

They are like Rob Scarlett, a former Accion executive (an international non profit working for financial inclusion) who’s on the boards of several foundations in Minneapolis and is well connected in their city to both the powerful and has credibility with, in this case, Somali and other immigrnt communities. He is opening or widening the opening of doors Said Sheik Abdi, the Somali immigrant leading the mortgage liberation solution called Star Finance, likely to be incorporated as a for profit majority owned by a non profit.

As the Field Guide describes the connector role: “At home in the corridors of power and can talk. The languages of money who opens doors for the system entrepreneur to get into they could not get access to otherwise. They learn to stay in their lane.” That means they do not take over the story once they have opened the door. They can help the particular transformation reach scale and gain wider credibility.