
The saga of Saul Alinsky continues to unfold over forty years after his death. He makes an appearance in places one would never expect. Here he is in a business publication, depoliticized. His principles are used to interpret behavior of a corporate leader in fierce competition with a slow-footed AT&T.
I can only imagine the chuckle he would have gotten from all this post mortem attention. After all, he craved the public eye and was way ahead of his time in using cutting edge media to advance his public image.
At one point Alinsky wonders how organizations will be built without the aid of that establishment-bashing image he so successfully nurtured.
The Industrial Areas Foundation has done pretty well in this regard by finding ways to engage communities, regions and states in organizing drives since Alinsky’s death. A key reason is the strength of the leadership training protocols that Ed Chambers and Dick Harmon put in place in the late sixties/early seventies. Without this infrastructure IAF expansion would likely have died on the vine.
It’s also worth noting that the Chambers/Harmon innovations were copied by others aspiring to build organizational networks.
I can only imagine the chuckle he would have gotten from all this post mortem attention. After all, he craved the public eye and was way ahead of his time in using cutting edge media to advance his public image.
At one point Alinsky wonders how organizations will be built without the aid of that establishment-bashing image he so successfully nurtured.
The Industrial Areas Foundation has done pretty well in this regard by finding ways to engage communities, regions and states in organizing drives since Alinsky’s death. A key reason is the strength of the leadership training protocols that Ed Chambers and Dick Harmon put in place in the late sixties/early seventies. Without this infrastructure IAF expansion would likely have died on the vine.
It’s also worth noting that the Chambers/Harmon innovations were copied by others aspiring to build organizational networks.