pierce otlhogile-gordon, ph.d.

I ignite the spark in social change communities.

portfolio.

Dr. Pierce Otlhogile-Gordon guides changemakers + communities to reach professional and personal goals of system change across the many borders of the human condition.He aligns the disciplines of innovation practice, evaluation capacity building, systems thinking, international development, speculative futures, towards issues of polycrisis. Whether at community or national scopes, for philanthropic, for-profit, non-profit, or academic sectors, each resource he's built - research, designs, education - synthesizes the creative impulse to build a more just, resilient, and communal global collective.Across time and place, his work shares one principle:

to orchestrate the spread of agency and creativity across the world.

I like defining my work in three separate buckets:

knowledge architecture,
community weaving, and
systems innovation.

KNOWLEDGE ARCHITECTURE.

Making learning matter.It's a fancy phrase for building curated tools, resources, and programs to create and use practical wisdom.As a researcher, evaluator, and education designer, if a changemaking organization's looking to answer a question, understand a complicated topic, or build courses, programs, and infrastructure to practically act out those insights, I'm prepared to serve.

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COMMUNITY WEAVING.

Building care into practicality.It's a buzzword I use to talk about the hard work of building meaningful connections from complex relationships.Many organizations overuse the phrase 'community' to wash their dominating influence on a large group of folks: sometimes a user population, or a stakeholder collective, or even more-than-human beings. Instead, 'weaving' requires building trust with others to find ways to act together in deeply aligned, possibly unexpected ways.

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SYSTEMS INNOVATION.

Social Judo. Ecological Acupuncture.It's about finding innovative ways to move today's mountains with detailed, strategic effort.Our world is made entirely of systems: smaller actors, connecting with each other for survival and support. (Take, for example: your brain. Your food system. Where our data in the 'cloud' is uploaded.) Instead of only mapping without action, or building without mapping consequences, Systems Innovation marries two worlds of learning and making, while finding leverage points to turn oppressive systems into healthier relationships.

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"We are a community of possibilities."- Peter Block

in the wild.

I primarily work with organizations that center changemakers in their work:

technological innovators,
movement organizers,
political professionals,
social entrepreneurs,
futurist artists,

and the ecosystems that ensure they thrive.

Book an appointment with Dr. Pierce Otlhogile-Gordon using Setmore

"Pierce is a master facilitator with a keen eye for systems thinking, design justice, and all things equity."- Fiona M., Cybersecurity Expert

as seen in:

"One of the things that I admire more about Dr. Gordon is his ability to do deep dives into the most complex and complicated data and information, expound thoughtfully with the most strategic thinkers, AND rollup his sleeves and do dirty work with the team..."- Dr. Chris J., Executive | Innovator | Politician

$z\topia$

"Dr. Pierce has the uncanny and uncommon ability to see both the bigger picture and the minute connections in a complex system. This allows him to develop some of the most innovative solutions to complex social problems. "- Dr. Amod Z., Conservation Ecologist

However, my audience isn't limited by industry, financial structure, vision, or work outcome.In fact, the most valuable work - similar to following evolutionary principles - happens when these types of organizations work together.Instead, I'm focused on partners that share my values:

Helping people who help people.
Building alternatives that make the world better.
Intent on using and sharing collective intelligence.
Accountable for the consequences of their actions.

I'm building curated social change education.
where should we start?

Equity Design Library.

If you want a curated library of hundreds of free social change knowledge resources, including:inspiration,
tools,
research,
examples,
community,
and more,click here.

Note: the lists look much better on a laptop.Scroll through. See something new.

Full List

LEARNING STRATEGY.

Building learning experiences, journeys, and communityis difficult.I can help you find your way forward:building
provoking experiences,
community-centered infrastructure,
and adaptive paths for vigorous innovators.Ready to build learning together?

LEARN SOCIAL CHANGE 101.

How to organize your social change education in a sea of information chaos.

If you want:a CLEAR STRATEGIC PLAN for learning any social change topic...
a CURATED VISION for building "knowledge power", and
PRODUCTIVE ESSENTIAL TOOLS to organize your research content:this is the course for you.

LEARN MORE

digital bookstore.

These books changed my life.Note: These lead to affiliate links.

As an eternal student compelled by the intersection of liberation and transformation, I've been blessed to teach design, evaluation, international development, and equity across the globe.The core resource that made all of this possible?these books.This canon has offered me direction, solace, critique, concern, inspiration, and questions about how to build a better future.I pray they help you as well.

get books

Ever heard the phrase,DO YOUR RESEARCH?

Of course you have.Tell me if this sounds like you:"My world is in chaos.
I NEED to to know more about how to change it.
so I want to learn about...*

disability rights or genocide or anti-racism or feminism or environmentalism or prison-industrial complex or surveillance capitalism or worker's rights or healthcare access or wage inequality or reproductive rights or queer rights or climate justice or artificial intelligence or housing crises or educational disparities or refugee rights or global unemployment or local unemployment or political apathy or police brutality or sexual assault or food inequality or work corruption or mental health crisis or economic resilience or minimal economic opportunities or community destruction or cultural genocide or public safety or more...

Everything is available online, right? So why does your learning feel so aimless?

Because these obstacles are ALSO online:

MISINFORMATION and INFINITE SCROLLING and PROPAGANDA and DATA VOIDS and OBFUSCATED VISIONS and the MEDIA CULTURE and $200 DATES and ALT-RIGHT and DISRUPTIVE PATTERNS and JOURNALISTIC DEFUNDING and NARRATIVE WARFARE and more...

we are
disorganized data consumers
in crisis.

It's never been more dangerous - or more necessary - to learn about pressing problems.To incite change, we have to know the scope, scale, and nature of these problems. We have to learn from experts, to figure out what we can actually affect, and figure out how to stay human in the process.But, you're powerless when you can't STRATEGICALLY ORGANIZE your learning.

That's what this course is for.

LEARN SOCIAL CHANGE 101.

ENROLL

Ask yourself:

WHY ARE YOU LEARNING?WHAT ISSUE DO YOU CHOOSE?HOW DO YOU START LEARNING?WHO DO YOU LEARN FROM?WHEN SHOULD YOU LEARN?

Professional learners:
researchers, professors, students, activists, organizers, writers,have made learning into a STRATEGY.Together, we can organize your learning journey, to make sure you can DO SOMETHING about our collective polycrisis, starting with organizing your learning journey.

BUILD THE SKILL OF LEARNING FOR SOCIAL CHANGE.

This is a course for:
the humble,
the passionate,
the scholar activist.

If you want help organizing your learning journey
into a practical strategy vision for effecting change,apply below.

APPLY