Latest news with #Litman
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Run for Something co-founder: ‘Democrats' reliance on seniority is our downfall'
Amanda Litman spent the past decade building a way for more younger people to run for office. Now, as the Democratic party debates its ageing leaders after the former president's decline led to a bruising loss in 2024, a groundswell of younger Democrats are working to remake the party by challenging incumbents and calling out Democratic leaders who fail to push back against Trump. It's a moment Litman has been waiting for. Litman co-founded Run for Something, an organization that recruits and trains progressives age 40 and under to seek elected office, the day Trump was inaugurated in 2017. Since then, the group has sought to dismantle the gerontocracy, helping to elect more than 1,500 people across 49 states. More than 200,000 people have signed up to explore a run for office, more than 40,000 of whom have signed up since Trump won last November. 'The Democratic party's reliance on seniority is really our downfall,' she told the Guardian. 'Imagine how hard it is to tell your grandparents that it's time for them to stop driving. This is the same: how do you tell someone they're no longer fit to do the thing that they've been doing for decades, but maybe feel called to and derive all their self-esteem and their sense of identity from?' These conversations are 'really hard', but it's vital to have them now, and in the open, because Democrats are seeing the consequences of avoiding the issue for too long, she said. Those younger leaders also have a distaste for institutionsand are more eager to tear it down or propose alternative ways to rebuild the government. Younger leaders are 'very open about what change could look like, and that can be really scary to the people who've been building these institutions for the last 10, 20, 30 years,' Litman said. Three older Democrats have died in office just this year. After the most recent death, Virginia Democrat Gerry Connolly, Litman wrote on social media that 'older Democrats need to retire now and go out on their own terms. Let us celebrate your legacy! Don't let your leadership end in a primary loss or worse, real grief.' Her new book, 'When We're in Charge: The Next Generation's Guide to Leadership,' details how millennials and Gen Z leaders can remake their workplaces and become the kinds of leaders they've always wanted. It's not explicitly about politics, though some people in elected office or other political work are interviewed. 'When we make workplaces better, we give people back their time to do more politics outside of it, like being a better citizen,' she said. 'It's really hard to imagine going to a protest or volunteering for a candidate if you are working around the clock, and you get home from your nine to five and you're just drained. Part of the reason why I want to push this conversation outside of politics is because I think the more we can make work not suck, the better everything else cannot suck too.' She advocates for separating your work from your personhood and bringing your authentic self to work, albeit a modified version she calls 'responsible authenticity'. The same lessons she found across workplaces apply to politicians, she writes and points to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the New York congresswoman, as someone who strikes the right balance of showing her humanity but maintaining boundaries. 'The members of Congress I spoke to brought up the same kinds of challenges as the lawyers, as the faith leaders, as the business executives and media folks,' she said. 'They all talked about loneliness. They all talked about vulnerability. They talked about the challenges of wanting to be authentic but not wanting to let everyone into all your shit.' As Democrats debate how to rebuild their side of the aisle, Litman expects to see more primaries, something the party has often sought to avoid at the national level, often believing they're a waste of resources. Primaries are more common in the state and local races Run for Something works on, and the group has at times endorsed more than one person in a primary. Primaries are 'clarifying', Litman said. 'Politics, like everything else, is something you get better at with practice. Primaries are how you get better.' Those primaries aren't simply a progressive vs. centrist surge right now, she said. It's more about who is showing they have the fight in them to stand up to the Trump administration, more about who has 'the skills and the stomach'. Beyond primaries, the left should be having open conversations about who needs to retire - Litman said a retirement, with an open race, is much more preferable than unseating an incumbent, which can get messy. 'If we really think that this is a crisis, we need leaders who are going to act like it and be able to communicate that,' she said. 'I'm not sure that Senator [Chuck] Schumer and other older members of Congress are most well-suited to do that. That's not a personal failing. It's just we got to send our best.'
CNBC
22-05-2025
- General
- CNBC
Millennial founder's best career advice for Gen Z: 'You don't get what you don't ask for'
Amanda Litman was just 26 when she co-founded Run For Something, a political organization that recruits and supports young, diverse candidates running for down-ballot office, in 2017. As Run for Something grew, Litman found that in order to become the kind of leader she wanted to be — compassionate, transparent, effective and accountable — she would have to look outside traditional models of leadership. Millennials and Gen Z are more diverse than previous generations, "so our leadership quite literally looks different," she says. "The models that worked for the old white men of the last three centuries don't necessarily make sense for us." In the eight years she's served as president of Run for Something, Litman, 35, has watched fellow millennial and Gen Z leaders make fundamental changes to workplace culture as they rise to top positions. Litman drew on her own experiences, as well as interviews with other millennial and Gen Z leaders like Snap Inc. CEO Evan Spiegel, comedian and producer Ilana Glazer, and activist David Hogg, for her new book "When We're In Charge: The Next Generation's Guide to Leadership." Here's her advice for the latest crop of leaders. According to Litman, the best professional advice she's ever received is "You don't get what you don't ask for." This advice rings true no matter where you are on the career ladder, she says. For leaders, clarity is crucial when setting expectations for employees. "You have a responsibility to make it clear what you are expecting, what you need, what you want out of people, and you want to make it as easy as possible for them to satisfy your demands," she says. On the other end, Litman encourages early-career professionals to put themselves out there: "If you want help from someone, if you want time on someone's calendar, if you want to have coffee with that person you've never had a chance to interact with, you need to ask for it." "The worst thing that happens is someone says no," she says. "The best thing that happens is they say yes, and you don't know what doors might open for you." Litman is heartened to see emerging leaders taking charge and making changes in the workplace. One crucial difference she notices between today's leaders and previous generations is that the younger generation of leaders is particularly focused on creating a healthy, supportive work culture. The Gen Z leaders Litman spoke to "really thought about the well-being of their teams," she says. "They thought about how to bring a sort of joy to the work in a way that I found really refreshing." Though Gen Z is often stereotyped in the workforce as lazy, unreliable, or difficult, Litman pushes back against those perceptions. "I think Gen Z wants a better balance between work and life, because they have seen how work can let you down," she says. "The career ladders that we thought we could climb no longer exist. The institutions that you thought you'd be able to work for are going through rolling layoffs. So why make your whole life about your job?" She advises Gen Z leaders to "take what works and leave what doesn't" when developing their leadership philosophies. "Don't assume that the way things were done yesterday has to be the way they're done tomorrow. You should know how things were done yesterday, but that doesn't dictate the future. You actually have a lot of agency over what could happen," she says. ,
Newsweek
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Newsweek
Legal Analyst Raises Red Flags on Andrew Cuomo DOJ Investigation
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Harry Litman, former deputy assistant attorney general and legal analyst, said that it is a "violation" of Department of Justice (DOJ) practice to insert themselves so close to an election and that interim U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C., Jeanine Pirro, "shouldn't be within 10 miles" of the investigation involving former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. Newsweek reached out to the DOJ via online form Wednesday for comment. The Context Cuomo announced his bid to run for New York City mayor as both a Democrat and an independent recently. He's widely thought to be current New York City Mayor Eric Adams' strongest rival in the race. Adams also recently faced criminal charges of his own until President Donald Trump's DOJ dropped federal bribery and campaign finance charges against him. The focus of the DOJ's reported inquiry into Cuomo is related to a September 2024 congressional hearing during which Cuomo was grilled over his March 2020 directive that nursing homes accept recovering COVID-19 patients. Critics said the directive may have contributed to the virus's spread, but Cuomo has maintained that he followed federal guidelines on the issue and accused Republicans of weaponizing the justice system against Democrats, ABC New York reported. What To Know While speaking with CNN on Wednesday, Litman spoke about the timing of the investigation, saying, "Yeah, not just notable, but normally... a violation of DOJ principles and practice. You don't try to interfere in an election so so very much on the eve of it. " Litman later added, "Now this was referred in October 2024 by James Comer, who was upset at the testimony, and the DOJ didn't do anything with it then and people across the board, Republicans, Democrats said, 'There's really no solid perjury case here.'" "Then it was revived, and it's now been given to Jeanine Pirro, who really shouldn't be within 10 miles of the case. She lost to Cuomo for attorney general and she called him a murderer or said he should be investigated for murder based on this conduct on Fox News, nevertheless, she now has the reigns." Newsweek attempted to reach Pirro at the U.S. Attorney's Office in D.C. but could not leave a voicemail. Litman continued, bringing up the public integrity section within the DOJ noting that they ultimately make the call to investigate. However, senior officials within that department resigned after it was suggested that they drop the charges against Adams. "We don't have that normal assurance of regularity that the public integrity section would provide," Litman warned. Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is seen speaking outside the West Side Institutional Synagogue on April 1, 2025, in New York City. (Photo by) Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is seen speaking outside the West Side Institutional Synagogue on April 1, 2025, in New York City. (Photo by) What People Are Saying Cuomo's spokesperson, Rich Azzopardi, in a statement to The New York Times on Tuesday: "We have never been informed of any such matter, so why would someone leak it now?" "The answer is obvious: This is lawfare and election interference plain and simple — something President Trump and his top Department of Justice officials say they are against." Azzopardi added that Cuomo "testified truthfully to the best of his recollection about events from four years earlier, and he offered to address any follow-up questions from the subcommittee — but from the beginning this was all transparently political." Republican Representative James Comer of Kentucky posted on X, formerly Twitter, on Tuesday: "DOJ just opened an investigation into Andrew Cuomo's COVID nursing home tragedy in New York. This comes after @GOPoversight caught Cuomo red-handed lying to Congress and resent a criminal referral to Attorney General Pam Bondi last month. Cuomo must be prosecuted." Zohran Kwame Mamdani, another New York City mayoral candidate, posted on X on Tuesday: "Andrew Cuomo's career has been defined by corruption and deceit and his lying to Congress about his COVID response is no exception." Mamdani continued, "But Donald Trump cannot be trusted to pursue justice. While I believe New Yorkers should reject the disgraced ex-Governor at the ballot box, the Trump administration's actions are dangerous." What Happens Next It's not immediately clear how far along the DOJ's investigation is or what charges prosecutors may file against the former governor.
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
These fired federal employees are considering running for public office
Tony Ruiz was happy to join Veterans Affairs in February 2024. A disabled veteran himself, Ruiz left the private sector to become a veterans service representative and help people who had served their country get the benefits they deserved. Despite glowing performance reviews and an "employee of the quarter" award, Ruiz , who lives in Orange County, California, was laid off just days before he had expected to become a permanent employee. Adrift in the weeks afterward, he came to two realizations, he told USA TODAY: He needed a job, and new people need to run for political office. 'The only way to speak up at this point with everything that's going on ‒ without getting too political here ‒ is to get into power, is to go to some location where there is a Republican and literally running on the platform of 'Hey, I'm one of those federal employees, a veteran, who was cut by the Trump administration.'' Progressive and Democratic groups that help people run for office told USA TODAY former federal employees like Ruiz are contacting them in droves to learn what it would take to run for everything from school board to Congress. Ruiz said he plans to start with a run for mayor or city council, hoping to connect with people in a moderately conservative area of California who aren't happy with the changes President Donald Trump has made, though he hasn't decided where. He called himself a centrist who leans left. "Everybody's seen now that we're under attack," Ruiz said. "That's my base; people that are veterans, Latinos, Americans in general who feel under attack.' In the three days after federal firings began in February, 1,000 people signed up to run for office with Run for Something, said group co-founder Amanda Litman. The organization supports progressive candidates who want to run for local office. It was a 'huge spike for us,' Litman said, adding that the layoffs could represent a pivot point in Trump's presidency that pushes people to get involved in politics. The group has received tens of thousands of calls and emails about running for office since the 2024 election, she said. More: The Donald Trump resistance is ready for when Democrats are done grieving 'I suspect many are coming from either employees or (people) wanting to fight back on behalf of federal employees,' Litman said. On March 25, more than 600 people attended a Run for Something informational call aimed at former federal workers interested in running for office. Attendees said they were tired of waiting for someone else to get it together. Some said they feel frustrated, disgusted and exhausted, while others said they are hopeful, optimistic and empowered. As alumni of the group talked about how they decided to run and organized their campaigns, attendees were in the video call's chat section coordinating local meet-ups or opportunities to share resources. Step one: Figure out their story. More: Rats, card tables and BYO toilet paper: Inside federal workers' return to office Litman said federal workers make compelling candidates because many are veterans and have 'a deep understanding of how the system works and a willingness to fight for it in a different way from the inside.' Also, they can say ''Trump and Elon Musk fired me for wanting to serve the people.' That's a really compelling campaign story,' she said. Running for public office is a logical next step for public servants, Emerge President A'shanti Gholar told USA TODAY. Emerge, which focuses on helping women run for office and supporting them after they win, held three trainings in April for former federal workers. Dozens of women across the country attended, and the group plans to hold another training series for fired federal workers in May and June, Gholar said. She said the training included how to find the right position for which to run. "They have all of this experience in the federal government, they know how it works, and they can take that to the local level, especially to be able to serve their community," she said. "There's 520,000 elected offices in this country, and the majority of them are at the state and local level, and that's where we really need people stepping up to be during this time." Mark Leonard, 35, of Fountain Valley, California, who has volunteered on several Democratic campaigns, said he is already in contact with six former public servants around the country who are looking for a way to serve again. He's advising them on deadlines, available resources, how to shape their message for their particular district, and how to get on the ballot. Leonard said he wants to ease their way into running a campaign, which can be daunting and very different from serving as a nonpartisan government employee. "I don't want to see people dropping out and giving up. I would like to see people run their races through," he said. Several federal employees USA TODAY spoke with said they are afraid to talk about their plans until they are fully separated from the government. Others were more open. Caitie Goddard, 41, is moving home to Michigan after losing her job with the United States Agency for International Development in Washington after less than a year. She had always worked in public education or public service and has occasionally considered running for office. "I had always thought about what it would mean to run … never knowing what would be an appropriate time. This experience of basically eliminating my position and all others, it's forced a choice," Goddard said. She wants to explore a run for state office but doesn't know where she'd fit best. Criticism of federal workers coming from the White House and some Americans has her thinking about whether having federal experience is a strength or a weakness if she runs. She said candidates will have to show that fired federal workers are "not just some random person. It's me, the girl from Royal Oak, Michigan, who has all her friends and family living in the area. It's affecting me and my family and my friends and community. It's not just some random folks without names working on Capitol Hill." Shernice Mundell, 47, of Edgewood, Maryland, joined the Office of Personnel Management in August 2024 where she helped postal workers with health insurance questions. She was excited to spend her final working decades helping fellow Americans. Mundell is considering a bid for Congress because she feels let down by her own congressman, Rep. Andy Harris, R-Maryland, who she said hasn't provided resources for the fired federal workers in his district. When she called his office to express concerns about the cuts, the only response she got was an automated message that he supports what the Trump administration is doing. "I've always wanted to do it, but I never had a reason," Mundell told USA TODAY. "Once I was fired, I said, Well, maybe this is God's way of telling me I should run for something." This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fired federal workers look to run for office to keep serving
Yahoo
16-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
The gig economy is growing 3x faster than the traditional workforce, and Gen Z is leading the charge: ‘They don't trust the old system'
Joining the gig economy used to be considered an 'alternative' career path—but it's fast becoming the norm. By 2027, half of the developed world's workers will be part of the gig economy, according to a new report from Ogilvy. While it was initially a combination of advancements in technology and corporate cost cutting that drove workers to freelance and side-hustle jobs, the motivation for independent work has evolved. 'Young people are really driven to take control over their own work life balance and craft their own career and narrative,' Reid Litman, global consulting director at Ogilvy and co-author of the report, tells Fortune. 'They don't trust the old system.' Members of Gen Z have come of age in an era marked by uncertainty and turbulence, from pandemics to political unrest to mass layoffs in various sectors. Traditional education is not the guarantee of a stable career that it once was, with many employers finding entry level candidates lacking the necessary skills to begin their ascent on the corporate ladder. A critical subset of the growing gig economy is the community of creators, influencers, independent entrepreneurs and consultants, a category that includes 'anyone who publicizes or monetizes their own persona or skill set,' according to Litman. Content creation, once seen as a frivolous hobby, has become more and more lucrative, and the creator economy is set to reach $529 billion by 2030, according to a report from Coherent Market Insights. In order to stay competitive and not lose future talent pipelines, companies should learn to embrace Gen Z's modern approach to work. Litman argues that today's employers frequently use the negative associations with Gen Z, such as high turnover rate, as justification for why they shouldn't invest in them further. 'This is kind of a race to the bottom, because while there is truth to higher turnover among Gen Z, these realities are rooted in more macro-shifts, like the idea that Gen Z will have many more jobs and careers than past generations,' Litman says.'It's not a Gen Z decision so much as it is like a socio-economic and technological outcome.' Litman believes that employers need to embrace all aspects of an employee's life, and break down the 'invisible walls' between consumer, creator, and employee identity. Some ways to build up loyalty among Gen Z employees include hosting network-building events, where they can make connections and receive mentorship from internal and external experts, as well as 'repotting days' that allow employees to spend half a day per quarter in another team. Upskilling access is another critical element to retention among younger workers, and companies should be investing in top-tier e-learning platforms via corporate membership. 'Let [employees] choose courses aligned with both their interests and manager feedback—directly tied to their reviews,' he suggests. Especially when more young people are forgoing traditional education, Litman believes employers can step in and 'be the university [employees] never had.' Finally, Litman thinks that companies can gain favor with Gen Z by supporting their employees' side-hustles and passion projects, not discouraging them. He suggests that as opposed to focusing on top-down philanthropy, company resources should be directed to employee-led initiatives. 'Whether it's an Etsy side hustle or teaching skills on Maven, aligning with what matters to workers creates more energized, innovative teams,' he says. 'Shaping the future of learning and earning includes changing how you see Gen Z. So in a world where they have more options and flexibility, in order to win with them, you have to appeal to their whole selves.' This story was originally featured on Sign in to access your portfolio
