Why having a BIG PICTURE view matters – Episode 27, Jay Jordan

The Changed Podcast with Aden Nepom

The Vice President of the Alliance for Safety and Justice, Jay Jordan, sat down on the Changed Podcast to talk about what motivates change, get a little personal and share thoughts about where we *might* be headed as a country

If you're not familiar with the important work of the Alliance for Safety and Justice, a national organization bringing together state leaders, advocates, and crime survivors to reform justice policy to prioritize safety over punishment. this video provides an overview.

In our conversation, Jay Jordan and I covered a lot of territory thinking about change in the past, present, and future, luck vs perspective, and pulling back from these broad concepts to get a little personal.

Jay shared a lovely story of a moment in his childhood that really motivated him to change something on a personal level that was holding him back. His story really illustrated how a little patience and a little heart can be hugely impactful on changes down the line. It also left me with a craving for strawberries and deeply nostalgic for my own schoolyard memories.

Takeaways from our conversation

"Just know that the pink pony is going to come back around again. You just have to be ready to hop on." - Jay Jordan

One of the things that really stayed with me from this conversation was the perspective, similar to previous guest insights shared by Madeleine Ryan in episode 16, that certain opportunities will keep showing up for us throughout our lives until the point that we embrace them. Jay used the colorful metaphor of a pink pony on the carousel. Maybe you miss the first or even the second time that pink pony comes around... but eventually you're going to get that pink pony.

When it comes to luck vs perspective and seizing the opportunities within arms reach, maybe it's helpful to remember that from up close things can seem bleak (like the guy arguing over being double-parked in New York), but if you can zoom out and get a high-level view you realize that there are all kinds of opportunities (for example a parking space just around the corner). Take time to develop your ability to get that big picture view.

When it comes to the question of the future of this country while the future is not certain, it is also far from bleak. There is no doubt that 30 years from now this world will look, feel and operate in ways that are completely different from today. The only question is... how do we want to get there? Because the choices we make today will influence those outcomes. This reinforced for me the deeply important need to be able to have tough conversations with each other.

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us." - Marianne Williamson

Links and Resources

Want to read the same book that Jay was reading at the time of his interview? Check out Rules for Radicals by Saul Alinski

Interested in developing the skills needed to have the important, tough, and critical conversations necessary to steer humanity towards a better future? Check out these workshops from The Art of Change Skills for Life, or if you're looking for insight and advisement about a particular question, feel free to reach out to me directly.

If you resonate with the value of shifting the focus of the justice conversation from 'crime and punishment,' to 'creating safe communities,' one way to get involved is to back the...
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