This Tax Day: Solidarity and Consent in Hard Times (2nd story)
In a time that rewards authoritarian “decisiveness,” here’s a story of shared power.
Today we launch our second story in the Week of Citizening!
Here’s our launch post
And our first story about the power of libraries as hubs of civic power.
Check out today’s story in this Instagram reel. If you would rather not support the capitulation of Mark Zuckerberg and his fiefdom, here’s a LinkedIn version.
It’s Tax Day in the U.S., a day when we reflect — willingly or not — on how we fund collective life. So it feels especially right to drop today’s Week Of Citizening story.
This one’s about layoffs. But not the kind we’ve come to expect.
Not the weepy CEO on Zoom. Not the impersonal memo. Not the top-down decision made behind closed doors.
This is a story of what happens when everyone is brought into the process. When leadership becomes an act of invitation, not imposition.
Kate “Sassy” Sassoon helped an organization in financial crisis do the unthinkable:
Cut costs with consent.
Share the “burden” of leadership.
Keep more people employed — and all people respected.
“They felt like complete, full humans. Seen. Heard. Valued.” — Kate
We’re told democracy is too slow, too messy, too impractical for hard decisions. That in times of crisis, we need strongmen — solo heroes. But the truth is: it’s in the hardest times that shared power matters most.
This story isn’t just about layoffs. It’s about rejecting the authoritarian reflex — in boardrooms, in governments, in all our institutions. It’s about choosing citizening instead. Even — especially — when it’s hard.
💬 Got a story like this?
Have you seen a big decision made with people, not for them? Reply to this email or share it with someone who needs to hear this right now. Because we need each other. And we need new stories of how to lead — together.
🔗 Want more stories like this? Sign up and let us know at stories.howtocitizen.com.
🎥 Video produced by Tess Novotnoy