Lead from the Outside: How to Build Your Future and Make Real Change

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 2018

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Preface-Introduction

Chapters 1-2

Chapters 3-4

Chapters 5-6

Chapters 7-8

Chapter 9

Key Figures

Themes

Index of Terms

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Preface-IntroductionChapter Summaries & Analyses

Preface Summary

This Preface to the paperback edition of Lead from the Outside appeared in the months following Abrams’s 2018 bid for governor of Georgia. As she is an “outsider”—a Black woman and a Democrat running for executive office in a Republican-led state—Abrams recognized that the odds were stacked against her. These unfavorable odds did not discourage her from running for office in the first place or from fighting against what she perceived to be improper voting practices instigated by her opponent. On the night the gubernatorial race was finally called, November 16, 2018, she offered a “non-concession speech,” riling against the circumstances that made it difficult for some voters—outsiders because of their race, socioeconomic standing, or employment status—to participate in the democratic process. She presents this book as an “outsider’s version of The Art of War” (23) that examines systems of power and shows readers what they can do to become leaders inside and outside of these systems. Her message is one of advocacy and determination: Everyone has a contribution to make to society; although some must struggle to make their voices heard (and will sometimes lose the struggle), they must try.

Introduction Summary

Abrams’s family prized church fellowship, academic excellence, and community service, and these values shaped her attitude and values. In the Introduction, Abrams takes the reader to 1994 when she interviewed for a Rhodes Scholarship and realized her misgivings about academic advancement. She details how she grappled with imposter syndrome, fearing she was not equal to others with greater access to knowledge and greater proximity to institutional power. These feelings of inadequacy were stoked by circumstances at home and school. At home, Abrams watched her parents, both of whom earned college degrees, struggle to provide for their children. The family was “working class,” or members of the “genteel poor,” as Abrams’s mother, Carolyn, called it. That is, despite their academic successes, her family’s dreams of financial stability had not been realized. At school, a professor discouraged Abrams from pursuing math courses essential to the study of physics, a major that interested her. Abrams decided to give up physics. This anecdote demonstrates the pervasive influence of negative expectations which, when internalized, can urge an individual “to strive but not exceed [their] limits” (26). Abrams won the Rhodes nomination for Mississippi but lost in the final round in Texas. The defeat represents a turning point in Abrams’s thinking: Failure is only one part of a person’s journey. She argues that by reflecting on their purpose and cultivating their ambition, her readers can defy their fear and better appreciate their power to lead.

Preface-Introduction Analysis

Abrams begins the Preface with the news of her loss in the race for Georgia’s governorship, but her tone is defiant. She relays the opinions of others who wanted her to follow tradition and quietly concede and then, in contrast, relates her personal and professional standard: to “kno[w] the rules and then decid[e] if they apply. Or if we need to write our own rules” (17). She presents statistics to underscore the efficacy of her unconventional approach but argues that her efforts were undercut by a “rigged” “game of elections” (20). By offering talking points from her “non-concession speech” and by quoting grateful voters who shared their stories with her on the campaign trail, Abrams encourages readers to see her both as a leader whose resilience is inspirational and as an equal whose experience is relatable. She mentions that she is an introverted, private person. This confession, along with her readiness to admit her failures as well as her successes, lays the groundwork for the principles she will reveal throughout the book.

The Introduction employs literary techniques expected more often in fiction than in nonfiction. She uses imagery to describe the movement of light in the hotel room, at once setting the scene and drawing the reader into her anecdote. Her use of contrast in the first paragraph—“I had no road map for winning. What I had instead were parents” (25)—underscores the tale to come about her and her family’s social advantages and disadvantages. Characterizing herself implicitly as a have-not, as an underdog against whom the odds are stacked, allows Abrams to appear sympathetic and relatable. This exercise in empathy also allows the reader to be in a better position to root for the 44-year-old Abrams who is an active participant in her fate and who encourages her readers to become the “architects of [their] futures” (35).