The Four Pivots

Reimagining Justice, Reimagining Ourselves

By: Shawn A. Ginwright PhD

Narrated by: Shawn A. Ginwright PhD

“Reading this courageous book feels like the beginning of a social and personal awakening...I can’t stop thinking about it.”—Brené Brown, PhD, author of Atlas of the Heart

For listeners of Emergent Strategy and Dare to Lead, an activist's roadmap to long-term social justice impact through four simple shifts.

We need a fundamental shift in our values—a pivot in how we think, act, work, and connect. Despite what we’ve been told, the most critical mainspring of social change isn’t coalition building or problem analysis. It’s healing: deep, whole, and systemic, inside and out.

Here, Shawn Ginwright, PhD, breaks down the common myths of social movements—a set of deeply ingrained beliefs that actually hold us back from healing and achieving sustainable systemic change. He shows us why these frames don’t work, proposing instead four revolutionary pivots for better activism and collective leadership:

Awareness: from lens to mirror
Connection: from transactional to transformative relationships
Vision: from problem-fixing to possibility-creating
Presence: from hustle to flow

Supplemented with reflections, prompts, cutting-edge research, and the author’s own insights and lived experience as an African American social scientist, professor, and movement builder, The Four Pivots helps us uncover our obstruction points. It shows us how to discover new lenses and boldly assert our need for connection, transformation, trust, wholeness, and healing. It gives us permission to create a better future—to acknowledge that a broken system has been predefining our dreams and limiting what we allow ourselves to imagine, but that it doesn’t have to be that way at all. Are you ready to pivot?

©2022 Shawn A. Ginwright (P)2022 North Atlantic Books

Critic reviews

“Reading this courageous book feels like the beginning of a social and personal awakening. By weaving together social science, storytelling, and his vast experience, Shawn explains why justice and healing are inextricably connected and how we can shift our thinking to create wholeness in our world and in ourselves. I can’t stop thinking about it.” (Brené Brown, PhD, author of Dare to Lead)

“Shawn Ginwright’s book illuminates a needed path for our racially divided nation to move from a place of sobering pessimism toward what Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and John Lewis referred to as The Beloved Community. Ginwright thoughtfully unpacks this pathway as a staged journey, where each of us as individuals - and within the institutions we occupy - can translate one’s lived experience into the sharing of story, human connectedness, and concerted action in service of full inclusion.” (Robert K. Ross, MD, president and CEO of The California Endowment)

“Shawn Ginwright calls upon us to take four pivots that can enable us to engage in deep reflection about our actions and experiences so that we can lead happier, healthier, and more meaningful lives...an invaluable resource for those who seek to grow, evolve, and make a difference in the world.” (Pedro A. Noguera, PhD, Emery Stoops and Joyce King Stoops dean of the USC Rossier School of Education)

What the World Needs NOW

Well-performed, and a MUST read for anyone who wants to be a part of the solution our World most desperately needs and deserves.

I’m hoping more people get to a place in their journey to seek knowledge and perspective such as Dr. Ginwright and so many others are bringing forward l, and like me, are moved to continue to learn and make an impact when and where you can - every little bit helps.

Highly recommend!!!

Ginwright gets it.

Thoughtful, insightful, reflective. Everyone in the world should read. Or at least everyone in the US.

Loved! Perfect for the newly minted PhD student interested in social justice

This was an excellent recommendation from my professor for political determinants of health class at Meharry Medical College

exceptional book and resource!

thank you, Dr. Ginwright for a comprehensive look at ddeib work and healing - inside and out

Wonderful read

This is a great book! The focus on change, personal, and societal change through healing was eye opening.

Transformative!

As an advocate of social change and mover progressive ideals, I have been reminded of the importance of some very real issues that affect our missions. Dr. Ginwright expertly reminds us of what is truly important non the path forward, especially for those of us in the front lines. An amazing listen that will surely have you reflecting!

Best book I’ve listened to in years

This book is written in the spirit of healing and positive change, but it doesn’t necessarily have a target audience… Dr. Ginwright speaks to anyone and everyone caught up in the rat race that capitalism creates. The book is narrated by the author and it’s like sitting down with a friend whose sharing lessons learned. Easy listen but SO many nuggets of wisdom. Thought provoking and challenges the reader to consider and confront different perspectives. I’ve shifted from problem focused to possibility focused. Get this book… you will thank yourself :-)

Stories connected to vision & framework.

I found this book most inspiring for looking at framing a path forward while recognizing the impact of past experience and the understanding required that we must work to understand perspectives of ourselves and others to begin creating a future for us all. Thank you, Dr Shawn Ginwright.

Bit of a roller coaster, but good

I was surprised by this book. I felt like it gave a really great path to walk the line of civil discourse and longterm anti oppression work. The book was a bit of a roller coaster but it was filled with great exercises to test out and build evidence for my own interpretation of things.

Thought provoking

Dr. Ginwright’s descriptions of these 4 pivots being the reader through self-reflection and increased awareness of the need for collective reconning.