It Takes Chutzpah: How to Fight Fearlessly for Progressive Change

In this inspirational call to action, a senior U.S. politician reveals how to accomplish goals with a combination of strong allies, persistence, and attention—that is, chutzpah.

It Takes Chutzpah is an inspirational call to action by a senior U.S. politician, describing how Americans of all age groups, persuasions, and occupations can defy convention, chart new pathways for their communities, schools, at work and in life. US Senator Ron Wyden is widely praised for coming up with sensible-sounding ideas no one else had thought of and making the counter-intuitive political alliances that prove helpful in passing bills. In It Takes Chutzpah, he offers a progressive leader’s manifesto for being a courageous warrior during turbulent times. 

“Chutzpah” is a Yiddish word that describes a trait that many Jews consider in-born.  Ron explores chutzpah’s long history and many interpretations and reclaims the word chutzpah for a new American generation, showing how it can be used for good to reclaim idealism and enact positive change.  He shares “Ron’s 12 Rules of Chutzpah” that enable any individual or group to achieve their objectives, including:

   1. If you want to make change, you’ve got to make noise.
   2.In a world where everyone thinks and acts for the short-term, always play the long game.
   3. Leading is coaching: Whether in legislation or in life, you’ve got to bring people and ideas together around a shared goal.

 Ron identifies several key values—free speech, health care, reproductive rights, a clean environment, and reigning in Big Tech—and draws on his decades of public service to stress that preserving those values means that loud brashness and boldness will be needed now more than ever.

Ron Wyden, a Democratic Senator from Oregon, served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1981 until his 1995 election to the U.S. Senate. Oregonians—and all attentive Americans—know Wyden as a senator who listens and innovates. The son of two refugees from Nazi Germany, he was born in Wichita and lived in Chicago, St. Louis, and Washington D.C., as his father Peter Wyden, a journeyman journalist and later a best-selling author, pursued his career and curiosity.