Peter Block

Inspired and organized by “A Small Group” methodology, emerging leaders in Cincinnati are doing transformation work in neighborhoods here. The approach is a model developed by organizational development thought leader Peter Block who by far has been at the top as innovator in community building nationally and globally.

I had the chance to have a conversation with Peter today before one of the Cincinnati community engagement meetings. He is one of the sharpest, most insightful, and joyful people working as master facilitator in the civic space I have ever encountered. These were a handful of Peter’s casual quotes from our time together where we were both taking notes.

“Speed, scale, programs, plans, strong leadership, and low hanging fruit are coded arguments against democracy, and for nothing happening.”

“We need to be talking about possibilities. A vision is something out there in the future. A possibility is something you walk into the room with. You never have to wait for possibilities.”

“Social fabric is what heals the wounds of a community.”

“Going small and going slow is a strength.”

“What we need to talk about are the questions people don’t know how to defend against, the ones no one is prepared for.”

This entry was posted on Friday, April 13th, 2007 at 11:29am and is filed under Appreciative living. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.