Nikki T. Anthony’s debut novel, The Price We Pay, centers around a teenage girl by the name of Zenetta Henchman, but her story is one that almost every age group can relate to and understand. It’s a human story about a person who doesn’t see her own significance in life.
She’s up against a system that’s been there since long before she was born, controlled by people with far greater authority than her own, and she doesn’t see herself as capable of changing things.She doesn’t see herself as powerful. She doesn’t see that there is anything she can personally do to change things because the odds seem stacked against her.
This is where most people these days find themselves. They don’t see themselves as powerful or capable of changing things. They’re up against a system that’s been in place for far longer than they’ve been alive which is controlled by people in positions of far greater authority than their own. They don’t think there is anything they can personally do to change things because the odds seem stacked against them.
As Zenetta will discover during the course of the book, however, her voice has a lot more power than she realizes. Her decision to remain silent in the face of an injustice will have a direct impact on her entire community, and so will her decision to accuse someone of wrongdoing before she has all the facts.
Her ability to influence the opinions, and thus the actions, of others puts her in a position of leadership. Her underestimation of her influence causes her to lead her people into harm’s way instead of out of it.
This is how it is with those who don’t see their own power and don’t recognize their own leadership abilities: they end up leading other people into harm’s way instead of out of it, and their actions can have devastating consequences for entire communities.
At Path To Publishing, we know that every voice matters and that leadership doesn’t begin with an election, a job offer, or a graduation. Leadership begins the moment one person influences the ideas, thoughts, and actions of another. The untrained leader is dangerous because they don’t recognize their own power to make a difference, so they aren’t intentional about how they use the influence they wield. Like Zenetta, their careless actions can cause great harm.
We know that great leaders aren’t born. They’re trained. That’s why, as part of our crowdfunding campaign for the novel, we’re offering our very own Magnetic Thought Leadership Training to contributors. We want them to understand their power to influence others and, through that, to change the way that discussions around race are conducted.
We want to ensure that everyone feels welcomed at the table and no one feels left out. We also want to equip them to wield their power in such a way that it helps to bring healing rather than increasing the amount of harm being done.
To discover more about our crowdfunding campaign and our novel approach to changing the conversation around race relations, visit https://ptppress.com/taking-a-novel-approach-to-change. Sign up to #JoinTheConversation and support the movement.
