Dreamers & Doers: Shawn Dove: From Freeze Tag to Freedom

May 27

Dreamers & Doers: Shawn Dove: From Freeze Tag to Freedom

In Part 1 of this 2-part episode, Kristine Michie sits down with Shawn Dove, an emerging elder leader and champion of Black Male Achievement, to discuss what it takes to unfreeze joy, imagination, and leadership. Shawn shares how his journey, from a childhood game of freeze tag to maintaining 37 years of sobriety after overcoming deep personal despair, led to a breakthrough realization: joy and imagination are not luxuries, but essential tools of resistance that can unfreeze those trapped by depression, racism, and isolation. They delve into how leaders can use games and play as activators for social justice, the importance of marginalized communities becoming masters of their own media to shift cultural narratives, and why embracing elderhood offers a vital framework for intentional, intergenerational "refirement".
Key Takeaways:

Resilience is not about how far someone falls, but about cultivating the inner and communal resources to bounce back higher than before.
Joy and imagination are not luxuries; they are essential tools for resisting oppression and reclaiming a sense of possibility about the future.
Acts as simple as mentorship, connection, and resource-sharing can “unfreeze” people trapped in cycles of isolation, poverty, and racism.
Telling one’s own story and enabling young people to do the same is a powerful way to build agency, shift narratives, and seed future leadership.
Elderhood can be a season of “refirement,” where wisdom, experience, and intergenerational relationships fuel new forms of contribution and impact.

"One of my mantras is not how far you fall, it's how high you bounce, and I have a lot of bounce to the ounce, and I share with leaders that there is someone that is watching you that you don't even know that is rising up in their leadership calling only because they're watching you rise. Up in yours." — Shawn Dove

"I think imagination and play are opposite sides of the same forever flipping a coin. I don't think you can have one without the other." — Shawn Dove

"I believe that we need to start creating this framework, less of retirement and more of refirement." — Shawn Dove

More About Shawn Dove:

Shawn Dove’s leadership mission mantra is “there is no cavalry coming to save the day. We are the iconic leaders that we have been waiting for; curators of the change we are seeking to see.” The co-author of I Too Am America: On Loving and Leading Black Men & Boys, Dove is the founder of the Corporation for Black Male Achievement, a coaching and publishing firm that facilitates leadership development engagements that amplify stories of loving, learning, and leading by and for Black men and boys. Dove also currently serves as Managing Partner for New Profit, a venture philanthropy firm that invests in breakthrough social entrepreneurs advancing strategies that address systemic injustice across the nation. He served as CEO of the Campaign for Black Male Achievement (CBMA), which launched in 2008 at the Open Society Foundations (OSF) and spun off into an independent entity in 2015. CBMA invested close to $250 million to support and connect leaders and organizations working on behalf of the field of Black Male Achievement.

Connect with Shawn Dove:

Website: https://newprofit.org/

Book: https://dovesoars.com/book/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shawn-dove/

Connect with Kristine:

The PlayFull Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-playfull-podcast-with-kristine-michie-bringing-fun/id1676838213?action=write-review

Website: https://www.impactfullinc.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/impactfull_inc

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristine-breese-michie/

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