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Jon Gatrell

Peace, Love, Justice and Activism: An Interview

I had an opportunity to recently connect with one of the most cool folks in my life, Chris Matthias.  Chris is one of those folks who still battles windmills, instills confidence in whomever he meets and ultimately he is out there trying to make a difference.  After hanging out and again seeing his passion to make the world a better place, I thought it was important to share with y’all what he does and hopefully provide you access to a new channel for making a difference you might not have been aware of.

Chris was kind enough to spend the time to work with me and get an interview in place so you can hear in his own voice why it is important to contribute and generally do good things when and where you can.

Q: What is the organization you work for?

I work for the Adrian Dominican Sisters, a congregation of Roman Catholic Sisters who abide in my home town of Adrian, Michigan.

Q: What are the key themes y’all are working for?

Key themes? The office that I work for is called Global Mission, Justice and Peace. Everything that we do is rooted in the vision of the Adrian Dominican Sisters, which is a crossroads of Catholic Social Teaching, the Dominican Charism, and the issues that the sisters are most actively engaged in. We have what we call corporate stances. These are positions that we have taken on certain issues, which become a mandate for my day to day work. Things like the Death Penalty, Nuclear Weapons, and the War in Iraq. We’re against all three by the way.

Q: Peace and Justice, really – how does one get a career in that?

I’ve had a long relationship with the Adrian Dominicans. I attended one of their sponsored institutions for college,  Siena Heights University. As a student, I took a great interest in any action that was happening in the peace and justice arena. In my senior year, I did an internship in the office in which I now work and the sisters and I developed a great rapport.

After that I moved to Boston, once I graduated and continued to work for organizations in the non-profit sector, or human services.  I returned home for a short time, and just before I was going to leave again their was a want add for the office where I’d interned!   Needless to say, I didn’t get on the train.

Q: Where has peace and justice taken you?

Hmmm. Well, I suppose there are several ways to answer that one. First the concrete….

My work in peace and justice has taken me to a lot of demonstrations. Of course in Adrian, but also to demonstrations in Washington DC as well as Fort Benning Georgia to work on closing the School of the Americas/WHINSEC. But it isn’t all demonstrating. There is a lot of coalition building and colaborating with different groups. For example this summer I went to Philidelphia for the Convention for the Common Good, where progressive Catholics gathered to create discuss which issues they were most dedicated to raising during and beyond the election season.

I’ve also gone and did some modest travel – I went to the UN in New York to learn about what the Dominican Family does as an NGO which was a great opportunity.  I also did some international work in Jamaica and the Dominican Republic.

In the more abstract, my work in peace and justice has taken me deeper into community with the people in my life, both familiar and unfamiliar. I know that sounds a little strange, but this is what I mean: when one’s work is focusing on injustice and inequity, we are forced to take a pretty serious dose of self examination, to make sure that we are challenging ourselves to be more just and more equitable in how we interact with our families, significant others, neighbors, our food supply, the people who produce the goods that we buy, how we spend money, what we consume, what we speak.

Q: Dude, are you a trustafarian or something?  How can you make it all work?

Far from it.  That would certainly make things much easier. The way that I approach it is to live within my means. Which I get right about 85 percent of the time.  I think that there is a big trade off when it comes to money.  Some of my friends make a lot more money than I do, but what they do to get it is nothing that they believe in.   But they get a sizable paycheck and that’s the reward. They eat at nicer restaurants than I do, they wear more expensive shoes, and can take more elaborate vacations.

Don’t get me wrong, I envy that sometimes. But most of the time it’s very easy to just be happy. The poor have their own wealth–each other.  When I lay down at night I fall right to sleep. Living in right relationships = a good life.

Q: How can folks help?

Every issue is a justice issue, and no one can handle them all. One of the things that is continuously referenced in my work circles is an interconnectedness of the issues. Human Trafficking might seem worlds away from making a choice not to but a Hummer (If that’s an option for you) but they both have to do with exercising privilege at the expense of others. So I say that the first step is start where you are.

What are problems facing your community? Go to a meeting, set up an action. You don’t have to have a Live Earth concert to do some good…Do a park clean up. Buy your food at the farmers’ market, turn off the TV and go outside. Play card games instead of video games. The way I see things, peace and justice are about healthy connecting. Injustice is a result of isolation, and selfishness. By starting small, there is a much better chance that you can stick to it, and then get into the bigger issues.


Q: I hear all that, but if there was just 1 thing everyone should do if they can’t actively travel or don’t have the cash to donate, what would that be?

Compost. I know that doesn’t seem like it’s going to save the world from AIDS, nuclear war, or global warming, however, it does mean that we actively recognize that this is a closed system we’re living in here. Recognize your part in it, and do well by it.  Life will sprout up from it.

Q:How can they follow up with you and your organization?

Visit our website @ www.adriandominicans.org or check out my blog, The Happy Activist. I don’t have that many readers right now, so if I get a few, maybe I’ll be held more accountable to write more.

I clearly couldn’t have put it as well as he did, thanks for doing this Chris! I’m definitely thankful for the effort he puts in day in and day out, so give him a read or check out what local organizations you may be able to participate in.

November 26, 2008 by
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Parentalism: Sharing the wealth

Had a great couple of conversations at an event I went to about a week ago and thought I might use it as blog fodder.   As one would expect the presidential election continues a point of interest in most public discussions, but not always appropriate for many settings.   To that end, Em and I were able to quickly divert the conversation to parenting, which is always a good thing since Em is as blue as can be, I’m definitely purple and we live in a red state.   Parenting is something most everyone can get who is over 30.  It also is something I know about which makes it easy to speak to without much of a stretch.  Plus parenting is a topic which we can all synchronize on, like the first time your kid got dreadlocks,

100_0635 by you.

the time when you broke your arm dropping into a bowl with your 7 year olds or the first protest you took your kids to.

photo by you.

So not sure how, but somehow parenting came back to politics, arrghhh.   So Em does a conversation flip from “sharing the wealth” being a political thing to being equally a parental thing.   Premise: All parental wealth is ultimately shared with the kids.

Under that premise, the transition from “democrats suck” to parenting was pretty easy –  the only really enjoyable sharing of the wealth is being a parent.   So I thought I would take it a little further – is it possible that parenting can fuel an economic rebound?  Can free spending entitlement based parenting be a new socio/political/economic model?

Heck yeah! If trickle down economics works as a model, then improving the discretionary income of minors has some validity and who is most able to make this happen?  Yup, parents. Parentalism.

Propping Up the Cell Phone Industry: A Parentalism Use Case

So I started thinking about how being a parent could drive improvements to the economy.  We could do all kinds of things like change curfew hours, enable them to take up a hobby or make a decision of some sort which requires more cash or changes how the kids can spend cash.   The first thing that came to my mind which could have an impact was my decision on a new cell phone.   My continuous denial to buy my two oldest kids a new 3G iPhone is having a negative impact on economy.  Yes, I know – horrible dad, since all the cool kids have them and AT&T could use a little increased share of wallet from me.   My take is that one should be happy at 12 to have a phone, even if it’s not an iPhone since every good parent gets their kids a mobile phone by 12, right?   Well maybe not every 12 year old has a cell phone and that just might be how parentalism could help the telcos, the economy and my dad coolness vibe.  Let’s do a little math:

  • 75M kids in the US under 18
  • Fuzzy math: kids over 12 years old is let’s say 20M
  • Let’s say that 20% have cell phones, so there is a bunch of opportunity here.
  • Let’s say that another 10% could have phones if their parents were just cool enough

So quick math indicates that by just practicing parentalistic spending you could pump $120M/yr into the economy and no one even needs to get an iPhone, but surely the cool kids would.  No really it is not that hard to back into the number: 2M kids @ $10/mo for the extra line, $40 in minutes/overage and $10 in unlimited texting and the $120M doesn’t include ringtones, games or a device purchase.  This could be exciting economic stuff this parentalism.   Think about it — what is more joyful than seeing your kid text message their way through dinner.   Like father/mother, like son/daughter –  a proud day definitely lies ahead with parentalism.  What other parental decisions could be made which would provide stimulus to the economy?

  • Buy a new Minivan?
  • Start a new college or trust fund to fuel transaction fees?
  • Participate in a bake sale?
  • Refuse to do a carpool
  • Invite people you hardly know to your kids birthday party? (no that would be weddingism)
  • Just say yes to that candy in the checkout lane (it also makes life easier for other around you)

Ultimately there is always a spreading of the wealth which occurs by choice, design or accident which we all participate in everyday. The big questions is when, where and how is acceptable spreading of the wealth determined?  Is it determined by the fact that the wage earner makes the decision?  Isn’t a vote a decision? Isn’t where you live a decision? I guess you could move to Canada…errr wait, healthcare is socialized, maybe France then might work.

I liken a tax credit or stimulus check approach  to having the same positive impact as giving your kid a raise in their allowance within a parentalism model.  Think about it, what did you do with your stimulus check, providing you got one?  What impact did it have on the economy?   Not much….  At the end of the day, I’m not sure I would trust my 12 year old twins to more responsibly stimulate the economy than the government.  I’m not sure I would trust the average adult either.

Well there may be some upside to giving the twins more money, it may improve the skateboard, apparel and video game industry, I guess you have to start somewhere.  On second thought, it might be cool to take a high speed train ride across the country on summer vacation while stopping at several national parks and breathing clean air.  This should be my last political post, probably.

QUESTION TO SELF: I wonder if this is what mommy bloggers feel like after they write a post?

November 23, 2008 by
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A Presidential Brand: Effective Campaigning

So with all of the excitement over the last week with the presidential election over there has sure been a good deal of open interaction, discussion and apparent hope which the election brings. The most interesting theme in all of the discussion is that with the election over everyone, regardless of the vote they cast are optimistic about what lies ahead – even with a 6+% unemployment rate (rumored to go MUCH higher), compressed 401K’s and the risk of increased taxes for some. So a friend of mine John put it best “While I’m not sure how this will all work out, the fact that folks are focusing on the minor increase in taxes in my circle of friends is a little off the mark, they should be focusing on the 32% loss in their portfolio’s.” Interesting how the election reflections change when it’s over, since before the election John was MOST concerned about the incremental taxes he was going to pay. So why are things a little different now, then they were a month ago in folks’ eyes?

The Message is the Man

After a lengthy discussion with Sheryl, an alleged blogger here as well, but she is WAY overwhelmed with her marketing consulting workload of late, I think it is basically brand management by each candidate which determined the outcome. As an aside, for a down economy, consultants are getting a good deal of work and it makes sense, since it is always an interesting business proposition to turn fixed costs into variable costs and the marketing space is no different. Sheryl’s thoughts are along the lines that running a successful political campaign, at least in this year’s election, had a lot to do with effective application of key marketing and brand management principles. She thinks that staying on message was a key differentiator for Obama in the campaign. The story and vision portrayed by Obama never changed. Things suck and need to change, not sure I have all the answers, but let’s work this out together and things just might change. Yes, grossly oversimplified or is it?

Keep it Simple – Keep it Constant

For 21 months, the drum beat of the Obama campaign was consistent, constant and simple. That’s not the case with the McCain campaign. The McCain campaign struggled with the message, and it was evident with the multiple changes in staff, message and his change in addressing the populous. Back to John’s comments who definitely voted McCain “Man, at the end I had no idea who McCain was. His change in position and posture almost made me forget I was a Texan and vote Dem.” His position is very similar to my take on this as well, along with Sheryl’s – not so much the wife’s opinion, but at least a shared concept by more than a few of my friends and myself — The guy who won the republican nomination was NOT the same person who ultimately lost the election.

The core values of being a maverick, a person that can reach across the isle and drive change were left somewhere along the way in campaign staff changes, negative ads and quirky debate rhetoric and behavior. Think about if you were to do a negative marketing campaign – what do you think the results would be? I guess it all depends on how you define negative, but let’s say calling out a competitor for “X” and declaring “X” to be bad. Would it damage your brand? Would it add new attributes to the brand? Would it just move the brand? It could do all three, which ultimately could impact success in the marketplace, not unlike what we saw in the election.

Vision: Emotional Execution

Everyone wants to be the part of something good, something big and something innovative and this is what Obama created – a path forward for everyone to participate in. For many the message was not just an idea, but also an emotion – a positive vision forward. It may not be the right path, it may ultimately be a bumpy path, but the message was we will be doing this together which was ultimately embraced by the voters. Inclusiveness as a core attribute to Obama’s vision is another delta in the messaging platforms during the election. The initial McCain platform was about bringing together folks towards a common goal and then it changed – not sure what you do when you are down in the poll, but this may be an interesting case study for politicos to look back on. The McCain messaged moved from hope and security to fear and exclusion – not a very compelling or differentiated message and ultimately may have been a key driver to the loss.

Taking your brand to the marketplace requires consistency and dedication toward a single vision and if you are unable to sustain that it is typically just a little harder to get where you want to be, when you want to be there. I guess core branding principles could be as applicable to politics as it is to products.

November 13, 2008 by
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Stuck in the Middle: The Committer

I haven’t done a piece around leadership personas for a while.  The main reason is things haven’t been that slow to think about leadership styles of late and I have just been getting things done, rather than thinking about things.   What a quandary, so I’m writing another piece on leadership, perhaps just to feel a little better about myself or to help a friend out.

This series is basically a pragmatic look at leadership, management and execution as it relates to dealing with specific leadership personas and how to get things done effectively inside a given management mode. Some of the other one’s I’ve addressed are The Collaborator, The Geologist, The Amoeba, The Visualist, The Fence Mender, The Vassalizer, The MBIFM, and a couple of other ones.

It is always an interesting set of problems to solve when thinking on how organizations can communicate better, develop their people, how to look at executing as an organization more effectively and how contributors can create excitement in a given role, even if they have been there a long time.  It might be important to note, that everyone needs to contribute – leadership is as much about a team and doing what needs to be done, as it is about “managing”.  It’s the last concept which got me back to thinking on this series based on a conversation I had with a friend the other day. Karen is consistently having items thrown into her queue without regard of any other items in progress and it is done via a series of ad hoc commitments which are cascaded down via email with no other interaction.

The challenge/situation is how can you keep up and be successful when someone continuously delegates new tasks without acknowledging capacity/understanding the effort to produce or providing additional context/assistance to ensure success.   I can certainly understand the troubles associated with this type of situation, which brings me to writing on this leadership persona.  Over commit and under deliver – not sure how this helps anyone – the investors, the customers or the associates.  At the end of the day, you have to manage expectations and deliverables – even if they are outside of your control.

As a product manager, I quickly came to grips with the reality that you have none of the authority, but all of the accountability, so working effectively through others is a keen skill to have no matter what role you have.   That being said you need to have an environment which allows for achievement and the opportunity for meeting the needs of the key stakeholder and constant agreement and confirmation that you will get it done while positive can lead to issues down the road.

So how do you deal with this? Communicate, communicate, communicate.  It also helps to make sure everyone understand what is being work on, who owns it and when it can be done.  Transparency is the key to success in this leadership model.  If everyone knows what needs to be done, is aware of the current prioritization and is aware of value for the folks who benefit from what is currently in the queue you have the opportunity to drive to closure the right items for the business, the customers and your employees.

November 8, 2008 by
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