Harshini Madhan

We live in this place, in this world, where we can share our words but not our thoughts.

The Orbit Model Community Engagement Framework (2024) defines four engagement levels:

1. Observer (passive consumption of content)


2. Participant (occasional interaction and feedback)


3. Contributor (regular active participation)


4. Advocate (proactive engagement and community leadership)

Socrates once said: The unexamined life is not worth living. But the overexamined life is not worth living either. The Watts trap: “A person who thinks all the time has nothing to think about except thoughts. So they lose touch with reality and live in a world of illusions.”

If we use agency as a prism to assess our daily activities, we might discover that it is not just about having enough information, trying enough toolkits, browsing or scrolling about it; it is about cultivating our own capacity to act.

Technical skill is your chosen craft. Product thinking is knowing what’s worth doing. Project execution is making sure it happens. People skills are how you work with and influence others.

about Confucius: he often adjusted his answers depending on who was asking

I think often now of Tara Raghuveer speaking about her experience organizing the KC Tenants Union:

“It feels so electric to be in a tenant meeting where people feel powerful for the first time ever. I think about so many instances of tenants saying to me: ‘I have never felt power in my body before this moment, before taking this collective action

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