Amplify: How to Use the Power of Connection to Engage, Take Action, and Build a Better World

by Adam Met PhD, Heather Landy (Editor)

Overview

A blueprint for boosting your activism and building support for the causes you care about, featuring fan-building tactics from the music industry and the voices of today’s most passionate change-makers

“This book shines a light on a wealth of new strategies to help reach people in ways that are both authentic and resonant.”—John Kerry

From stadium acts to indie singer-songwriters, musicians have pioneered ways of sparking passion, building awareness, and catalyzing engagement. Now imagine if social movements—from the fight to protect the planet to campaigns promoting global health or LGBTQIA+ rights—had the same fervent support as your favorite artists.

Adam Met, climate advocate, educator, and member of the multiplatinum band AJR, gained firsthand experience growing an audience from the ground up as the band progressed from playing in living rooms to selling out arenas. With award-winning journalist Heather Landy, Met shows how to apply fan-building strategies to social movements in exciting, inventive ways. Amplify is a playbook for developing passionate supporters (i.e., fans) utilizing the art and science of engagement, collaboration, and authentic connection, with tactics that will inspire people to carry your message to the world and spur others to act.

Amplify’s innovative tool kit will help you find your voice and maximize your impact in the world of social progress to create the change you want to see.

This movement-building manifesto includes cutting-edge research and strategies from today’s most effective organizers, engagers, and thinkers, including extensive interviews with

• Adam Grant (Wharton professor) on embracing disagreement within a movement
• Christiana Figueres (Paris Climate Agreement architect) on finding a path to solutions
• Andrew Yang (former U.S. presidential candidate) on becoming the front person for your ideas
• David Hogg (March for Our Lives co-founder) on the challenges of building a youth-led movement
• Chi Ossé (youngest-ever NYC council member) on working outside the box but within the system
• Sue Doster (NYC Pride co-chair) on keeping movements nimble and relevant
• Glenn Beck (conservative commentator) on finding common ground
• Jim Gaffigan (comedian) on setting and achieving goals
• Bill Nye (scientist and entertainer) on communication that connects with people
• Ben Folds (musician) on staying in sync with your audience
• Jamie Drummond (ONE Campaign co-founder) on the beauty of purposeful compromise
• Enongo Lumumba-Kasongo (hip-hop scholar) on the intersection of activism and history
• Wendy Laister (Duran Duran manager) on harnessing the energy of live events
• Clyde Lawrence and Jordan Cohen (of the band Lawrence) on pressing your argument
• MAX (musician) on the power of collaboration
• Sam Hollander (songwriter) on aligning different perspectives
• Astro Teller (co-founder of Alphabet’s X division) on taking moonshots

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780593735909
Publisher:	Harmony/Rodale/Convergent
Publication date:	06/03/2025
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	5.74(w) x 8.54(h) x 0.92(d)

About the Author

Adam Met, PhD, seamlessly transitions between his roles as a musician, educator, and advocate. As the bassist in the multi-Platinum band AJR, he has played for millions of fans worldwide. He is the co-founder of the climate research and advocacy nonprofit Planet Reimagined and teaches about climate campaigning and policy at Columbia University.

Heather Landy is a senior editor at Bloomberg News and a former executive editor of Quartz. Her reporting has also appeared in publications including The Washington Post, The New York Times, and The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, where she earned a Gerald Loeb Award for beat reporting.

Read an Excerpt

Chapter 1

That Thing You Do

What will you choose to take action on?

We have to imagine this world we need to be rushing towards.

We’re not going to get there as urgently as we need to unless we actually want to.

And of course we need to want to, because it’s going to be a much healthier world.

We’re going to have a lovely greening of cities.

We’re going to have these new jobs that are going to be so much better.

We’re going to hear the birds singing.

We’re going to have a more equal world.

We can’t get there fast enough.

—Mary Robinson, former president of Ireland and former UN high commissioner for human rights

I was never meant to be a musician. Yes, I’m the bassist in a reasonably successful band. Our music has been streamed billions of times, we’ve played sold-out shows at Madison Square Garden, and our songs have gone platinum and double-platinum and triple-platinum. It’s not what I ever thought I would be doing with my life, though. Don’t get me wrong. I am thrilled, and so thankful, that this is what I do. But I wasn’t meant to be a musician. I’m not even particularly good at the bass. I am not good at songwriting. I am not good at producing. I am definitely not a lead singer. For these reasons and more, it took some time for me to figure out my place in AJR, the band my brothers and I started as teenagers. And it took me even longer to find my place in the broader music industry.

I may have complicated the process by embarking on a PhD in human rights law and sustainability, and starting a climate nonprofit, just as the band was really getting off the ground. At times, these things took up focus I otherwise might have devoted to, say, becoming a better bass player. But it was because of these other pursuits that I finally understood why my music career really mattered.

The first speech I was ever invited to give about climate action was at a rally in Omaha in 2018. I was really excited for the opportunity. I talked about regenerative agriculture (a key issue in Nebraska) and the power that individuals have to make systemic change. After the speech, I got lots of requests to take photos, but no questions or compliments about anything I had said. Feeling a bit deflated, I went back to the nearby concert venue where we were playing that night for a few thousand people and got ready for the show.

The next morning I was sitting in the Omaha airport when I was approached by a mother and daughter holding hands. The girl couldn’t have been more than ten and was eagerly bouncing on her heels. “Thank you so much for yesterday,” the mother said. I smiled and thanked them back and inquired about their favorite part of the show. Confused looks crossed both of their faces. “What show?” they asked. Apparently I was the confused one. They went on to tell me how inspired they were by my speech about taking action. They weren’t aware of the band and didn’t know we had played a concert the night before. After the rally, they said, they went home to research new ways of farming and how Nebraska could be a leader in fighting climate change.

This was the first time that being a musician felt right to me. Music was what had brought me to this place, a long way from my home in New York City. I like music; it fills me with passion and excitement. But it is only one part of the equation. I told you I was never meant to be a musician. More accurately, I was never meant to be just a musician. I love being onstage, guiding people toward an understanding of something, helping them feel things that compel them to cheer or cry or laugh or widen their eyes in surprise. I love participating in the act of moving people. But I couldn’t be effective at that, whether as a musician or as a climate advocate, until I found my own place, a place that actually felt right.

Some days it’s still a struggle. In the years since that speech in Omaha, I finished my PhD, became a development advocate for the United Nations, formulated new approaches to energy policy that got Republicans and Democrats in Congress to shake hands, taught climate advocacy at Columbia University. And still, when I want to talk to people about urban farming practices or energy plant permits, they want to hear about what it was like performing at Red Rocks Amphitheatre.

I understand why people have a hard time seeing me the way I want to be seen. I’ve spent more than eighteen years now working to set up the tours, the stories, the games, the community, and the emotional connections that created a fan base for the music. I haven’t yet spent the same amount of time or energy making people care about the environment, or the specific things I’ve had to say about it. Also, I haven’t really applied the same fan-building tactics to move people to action on climate or other important issues.

But what if we could?

What’s your thing?

On a wet April morning, a few hours before a big show in Charlotte, North Carolina, I made my way to nearby Davidson College. I’d agreed to give a talk there about climate policy because I’m deeply worried about the future of our planet, and because I was curious what the atmosphere was like on a college campus in a swing state in 2024, and because the student group that invited me figured people would show up to meet the “A” in AJR. So that was how I introduced myself: I gave the students all the reasons why I was there. After highlighting several big climate policy wins under the Biden administration, I asked who in the room was majoring in something connected to climate. Hardly anyone said yes. So I started cold-calling on students to ask them what they were studying. Engineering, education, marketing, visual arts, international relations, political science—they didn’t see how any of it related directly to climate. One student told me he was taking architecture classes. I asked if he could imagine working with sustainable materials, or designing buildings to withstand increasingly severe weather events. I inquired whether the pre-med students had learned about the mosquito-borne illnesses that will spread with the Earth’s temperature rise. I challenged the business majors to think about ways for industries to adapt to a warming planet, as nearly every sector will eventually have to do.

Maybe you saw these connections coming. Maybe you’ve already made connections like this for yourself and have joined the movement, or at least can see a pathway for doing so. Or maybe climate change isn’t the issue that speaks loudest to you. In fact, the world is full of pressing problems in need of broad-based solutions. We could apply this same exercise to any of them. We also could look at other ways, aside from schooling or professional expertise, to contribute to social change, whether through your money, your time, your vote, your affiliation with an organization that’s already doing great work, or your idea for starting a new campaign. But first, you need to know which issue you’re focusing on. So what will it be? How do you find your thing?

While I could easily argue that climate change touches just about everything (from the energy we create, to the way we travel, to the things we make, eat, wear, and throw away), I promise I won’t be too disappointed if your cause of choice isn’t climate. Throughout this book, you’ll hear from leaders of movements for gun regulation, global health, racial equality, immigrant justice, LGBTQIA+ rights, and more. They’re all doing important, inspiring work and asking crucial questions about how to get more support for the changes they want to see in the world. In later chapters, we’ll explore specific tactics for building fan bases for causes. But first we need to make sure everyone can envision a path to participating in social change, which starts with understanding how a path might materialize in the first place. My own path, the one that led me to climate advocacy, was shaped by a well-timed field trip, a picky PhD adviser, and a purple Nintendo Game Boy Color I got when I was in fourth grade. So let’s start there.

Editorial Reviews

04/21/2025

In this accessible and practical debut, Met, whose CV includes playing the bass in a multiplatinum band and cofounding a climate research and advocacy nonprofit, draws on his varied experiences to make the case that the “fan-building tactics” performers employ can be applied “to move people to action on climate or other important issues.” The key, he argues, is to be seen as a “trusted messenger” by offering an authentic “insider’s view.” Met provides numerous examples to illustrate this point, from how his own band, AJR, produced “making of” documentaries that helped solidify its link to its fan base, to how Greta Thunberg and Andrew Yang were able to connect with far-reaching audiences about climate change and universal basic income by presenting earnest explainers on social media. While the strategies Met shares seem more like a marketing guide for influencers than anything else—a core piece of advice is to be “highly intentional about what shares and when, which allows to be transparent about their work without being dull and without ever crossing the line into oversharing”—it’s nonetheless advice that those hoping to become front men for political causes can make valuable use of. Aspiring activists will want to check this out. (June)

Publishers Weekly

The climate challenge is also a challenge of human communication, connection, and empathy. This book shines a light on these intertwined dynamics and contains a wealth of new strategies to help reach people in ways that are both authentic and resonant.”—John Kerry, 68th Secretary of State and co-executive chair, Galvanize Climate Solutions

“Whether you’re building a movement or just exploring ways to get involved in a cause, Amplify can help. We need fresh thinking to accelerate social change, particularly around climate, and the ideas in this book are creative and easy to implement.”—Van Jones, author of Beyond the Messy Truth

“If you’re feeling overwhelmed by the horror of the headlines and wondering what you can do to help, this book is made for you. Chock-full of practical and creative tools, Adam Met’s timely, timeless treatise defies cynicism, demystifies change-making, and makes you feel like you can actually make a difference. Amplify is essential reading for artists and activists alike.”—Shaina Taub, Tony Award–winning songwriter and performer

“As artists, and as citizens, it is vital that we find not just the strength but the strategies to keep fighting for social progress. This book will help you find both.”—Leslie Odom Jr., Grammy and Tony Award–winning singer and actor

“Amplify uncovers, explains, and celebrates the connections between music and social movements. It reminds us that we can and should use the skills and passion we learn from working in the arts to help make a positive difference in our communities. Not only is it a practical guide to getting engaged and bringing others along for the ride, but it challenges us to build movements for transformational change.”—Maxwell Frost, the first Gen Z member of Congress (from the foreword)

From the Publisher