"I don't know the future. I didn't come here to tell you how this is going to end. I came here to tell you how it's going to begin." — Neo, The Matrix
At the end of The Matrix, Neo—the One prophesied to free humans from their machine enslavement—makes a call to the machine overlords to announce the beginning of their end. Neo tells the machines that he is going to show people the possibility of a liberated humanity, "a world where anything is possible."
Our aims at Rabble are a bit more humble (and as far as we can tell, we are not living in the Matrix), but we do intend to change the world. We want to inspire people to imagine a world where communities, artists, and public space matter more than corporations, technology, and profit. We want to build a world where digital public spaces, material civic support for artists, and community-driven projects thrive.
In October, we celebrated Rabble and MUSICat's 5 year anniversary, and the work we've done with our public library partners to build toward a better world. But we haven't used this milestone solely as an opportunity to revel in our success. We're also reckoning with the challenges we face, and making plans for the future so that we can continue our work for another five years, and far beyond that.
The MUSICat platform is reaching a stable "Version 1" and, as a result, we're able to support music collections and our library partners more efficiently than ever before. This technical and financial stability allows us to move forward with plans to make the Rabble team healthier and stronger.
We created a reorganization plan that puts us on a path toward long-term sustainability. Early in 2020, Preston will become Rabble's CEO, succeeding Kelly, who has served in this role since Rabble's founding. Kelly will begin acting as the Chair of Rabble's revitalized Board of Directors, on which Glenn and Preston, our two working founders, will also serve. Kelly will also convene a new MUSICat Advisory Board with library partners and artists (more about that in an upcoming announcement), and continue to guide strategy and emerging projects as a consultant for Rabble and its library partners.
The Rabble Board of Directors, Kelly, Glenn, and Preston, at the 2018 Public Library Association conference
This reorganization leaves Rabble with a budget that will allow Preston (MUSICat's architect) and Glenn (MUSICat's technical lead) to focus on Rabble full time, with reasonable infrastructure and salaries. That's a major milestone for us as Rabble's founders, and a necessary component in our sustainability plans.
All too often we cast startup founders and executives as Neos: saviors who alone can disrupt the status quo and transcend the current constraints of the world. But the truth is, it's not not only exhausting for leaders to take on massive burdens alone, it's also detrimental to organizations when institutional knowledge, reputation, and vision are embodied in a single person.
Preston and Kelly, Rabble’s incoming and outgoing CEO’s, taking a break from the 2018 American Library Association conference in Chicago
Nobody is Neo. We're not chosen ones, we're not saviors, and we're not doing this work alone. As we reconfigure how Rabble runs, we recognize that building public good is collaborative work. We offer our ongoing commitment to do that work in health and affirming ways as a potential model for crafting values-driven ventures. If we want our work to continue for the next five or ten or twenty years, our well-being and the well-being of our colleagues and partners must be one of those values. We haven't always lived up to that ideal, but we're now moving in the right direction to build the kind of lasting organization that the work deserves.