Dulski - Purposeful: are you a manager or a movement starter?

Anyone who thinks that they are too small to make a difference has never tried to fall asleep with a mosquito in the room.

C HRISTINE T ODD W HITMAN

THIS BOOK IS about how ordinary people make extraordinary change. Its not about politicians or CEOs of large companies who are already bestowed with enormous power and responsibility. Its about how your teammates, your neighbors, and you yourself can mobilize the people around you to bring your visions to life. So how does that happen?

FIVE MINUTES AFTER nineteen-year-old Manal Rostom switched seats with her cousin on a bus from Cairo to the Red Sea, the bus blew a tire and swerved into the desert, rolling over three times. Manal was okay, but her cousin, Mohammed, was instantly paralyzed. He died three weeks later. This shook Manal to her core. Her faith helped her cope with her grief and trauma, and though she had been only moderately religious before the accident, the experience strengthened her relationship to Islam. Two years later, although it wasnt necessarily expected by her family, Manal decided to wear the hijab, a traditional Muslim head covering. It was a way to say thank you to God, she told me, for giving me a second chance to live.

Manal wore the hijab for the next fourteen years. While she faced some criticism from Westerners who were either unfamiliar with the hijab or believe it is oppressive to women, she generally felt accepted in Egypt and Kuwait. And then something changed. More and more women she knew stopped wearing the hijab, anti-hijab articles started appearing in the media, and in Dubai, where she lived, Muslim women in hijab faced criticism and were not allowed into some public spaces. Manal didnt judge others negatively for choosing not to wear the hijab, but she felt that for herself and many other women, wearing the hijab provided a sense of connection to their faith. I had a moment of epiphany, she said. If I was to give in and just follow the crowd, then how would anything change? I felt like a dead fish who was just going to go with the flow, but then I decided I wanted to go against the current. I wasnt a dead fish.

In 2014, Manal started a community of women to support each other through a group on Facebook called Surviving Hijab, a name she chose because thats what she felt she was trying to do. That night in April, she invited eighty women, mainly her friends and family, into the group. When she woke up, she found that the group already had five hundred members. Within months, the community had grown to more than forty thousand women who supported and encouraged one another to be proud of wearing the hijab. Today, just three years later, Surviving Hijab is nearing five hundred thousand women from around the world and clearly fills a need for hijabi women to have a supportive community. Manals desire to take action has created a movement.

With so many supporters behind her, Manal knew that more was possible. In addition to her job at a pharmaceutical company and her role leading this community, Manal is also an athletean avid runner. She faces even more criticism as a hijabi athlete, with people constantly asking her things like, Wont you be hot running in all those layers? She is often the only hijabi runner in races she competes in, and has seen it as an opportunity to help reduce stereotypes of Muslim women. But she wanted to do more. On the recommendation of a friend, and with the support of all the women in Surviving Hijab behind her, Manal wrote a letter to Tom Woolf, the head coach for Nike in the Middle East, titled Nike Middle EastVeiled Women Runners :) In it, she described her community of women and how she wanted to empower them to be active and do sports, even in the hijab. The reason why Im contacting you is because I have noticed that all pics featuring the Nike Club runners have no veiled women in them! she wrote. Its the Middle East, shouldnt we have some? When she hit send, she was terrified.

But her terror was unjustified. Not only did Tom reply, he said, Thank you for your email. Its timing is perfect and I have been having similar conversations with the Nike team here. How are you set to meet... at three p.m. tomorrow? Of course, Manal agreed. And just two months later, in January 2015, Manal became the first hijabi woman featured in a Nike ad campaign. In March 2015, Nike invited Manal to become the first coach of an all-womens running club in Dubai. And finally, in March 2017, Manal was invited to Nike headquarters in Dubai for a big surprisethe company announcing Nike Pro Hijaba line of athletic wear for hijabi women that would launch in early 2018. When she heard the news, Manal says she broke down in tears for every struggle that shed read about on Surviving Hijab. It was magical, she told me. It was the first time that a multinational brand said they would cater to this segment of Muslim women. That swoosh gives us power.

Nike highlights on its website how Manal and other Muslim female athletes tested prototypes of the product for features like fit and breathability and also gave important cultural feedback, like the fact that it had to be completely opaque. And though Nike was not the first company to make a hijab for Muslim women athletes, having such a big brand behind her gave Manal an enormous sense of accomplishment. She felt that she and others in Nike Pro Hijab gear could be role models for young girls, who would now see that its possible to both support your faith and achieve all that you want to do in the world. Manal learned that shared purpose can help a community overcome stereotypes and drive change.