A Call to Men – Leading From Love
Reflections from A Call to Men’s Leadership Academy
By Moving Rasa
April 2025
“Who would we be if we were truly accountable to the people—not just to my job description or title, but to their wholeness?”
This was one of the many powerful questions that emerged during our participation in A Call to Men’s Leadership Academy—a multiday gathering grounded in love, bold vision, and the reimagining of healthy masculinity.
One word echoed through the reflections of the Moving Rasa team after each day: Revealed. The Academy didn’t simply teach leadership; it embodied it.
Embodying Possibility, Not Punishment
A Call to Men has long been a national leader in the movement to end gender-based violence. Their work is rooted in engaging men and boys to embrace healthy, expansive forms of masculinity while building accountable communities that center women, girls, and LGBTQIA+ people.
At the center of the Leadership Academy is Tony Porter, co-founder and CEO of A Call to Men, whose decades of cultural work have reshaped how communities think about masculinity and violence. Tony’s approach is relational, visionary, and rooted in unapologetic Black joy. Rather than leading from blame or shame, he invites men to step into deeper forms of connection and care.
The Academy models a simple but radical truth: men don’t need to be fixed—they need to be loved, challenged, and invited into healing relationships.
Leadership that Loves, Listens, and Listens Again
Throughout the Academy, we witnessed how A Call to Men meets people where they are—literally and spiritually. Whether it’s through conversations at corner stores, churches, barber shops, or team huddles, their approach is deeply relational.
The community already holds the answers, they teach. The work is not to rescue—it is to show up as kin, as neighbors, with humility and presence.
One of the most compelling lessons explored how to use culture to unpack culture, building spaces that are safe enough for people to be challenged and still stay present. True transformation, as participants learned, isn’t rooted in confrontation. It’s grounded in love, curiosity, and care.
Participants also explored how to communicate in ways that invite—not impose. Story-sharing, visioning, and listening were treated as sacred tools—not strategies. It’s not about telling people what healthy masculinity looks like. It’s about asking them. Showing them. And holding space for their truth to emerge.
A Structure That Reflects the Mission
Even the operational model at A Call to Men reflects their values. Their 60/20/20 structure—60% of staff time for job responsibilities, 20% for team support, and 20% for visionary work—models a way of being that centers collective care, not burnout. It’s leadership that breathes.
This internal culture mirrors the work they do externally. Everything they build—whether programs, policies, or people—is designed with intention and compassion.
What Moving Rasa Is Carrying Forward
We left the Academy with hearts full and vision clarified. The lessons extended beyond technical knowledge. They revealed deeper ways of being in community, in leadership, and in love.
Here are a few truths we are carrying forward:
That community is not a side project—it is the way
That accountability is not punishment—it is an act of care
That leadership is not about rising above—it is about lifting together
That connection across difference is possible when we meet each other with humility and humanity
Most of all, the experience reaffirmed a core truth that guides Moving Rasa’s work:
Healing happens in relationship. And relationship begins with presence, listening, and love.
The path forward is not always easy. But it is clearer now—one relationship, one conversation, one act of care at a time.