Leaders Create Conversations, Not Solutions

With a new baby in the house, it makes a lot of sense that I would start reading Peter Block's new book, Community: The Structure of Belonging -- I'm managing to get through about three paragraphs before collapsing into a brief bout of sleep. The more time I spend pondering Block's work as it relates to civic engagement and community building, the more convinced I am that his main premises -- that the conversation is the change; that the questions are more important than the answers; that the role of leaders is to convene, to listen and to give voice to others -- are spot on.

And as various organizations and individuals in the Richmond region continue to grapple with the appropriate way to lead change, I can't help but go back to a recent interview I read with Block:

Well first of all, we pay too much attention to leaders and CEO’s so I would not worry so much about changing their minds. I would just leave them alone because they’re very busy. Plus if you want to create an alternative future, leaders are not in a good position to do this. They are often helpless to really bring about change. Everybody thinks that leaders are essential and the way we construct leadership is too small a version of what they are; the leader’s main job is as a convener of new conversations and to bring peers together, it’s not to be role models. It’s not to be the answer...

... community is created by citizens through the conversations they have with each other and the conversation of what we want to create together is the heart of creating a future distinct from the past. And all we have to do to create the future is to change the nature of our conversations and go from blame to ownership, and from bargaining to commitment, and from problem solving to possibility.

Block's new book should be a must read for everyone involved in trying to recreate the Richmond region.