Comments michmike has made

reason for hope

Two of my favorite authors, Peter Senge and Parker Palmer, talk about the gap between the way things are and the way we would like them to be.  Senge calls it a creative gap, Palmer calls it a tragic gap.  

Even tho much of society takes a head-in-the-sand approach to facing current reality, (and there is even some reason for hope in what is going on right now)the information about our multitude of complex dilemmas and missteps is out there to be seen, heard and to some degree understood if anyone cares to look.

What is missing is an articulation of the way we'd like things to be 10 or 20 years from now.  "Reducing carbon emissions" for example is not a positive, aspirational vision of the future we'd like to create. It will no doubt mean reducing carbon emissions to get there, but where is there and what will it look like when we get there?  What do we want the future to be like?  Specifically.  Not many people I know are good at convening this kind of conversation; there's too much fixation on short-term problems, a find and fix mentality driven by fear and crisis.  I think we motivate too much by fear and do way too little to inspire action through hope and possibility.

I think what will catalyze dealing with short-term serious problems is a clear, no-kidding, this-is-what-we-want-to-create-together-and-this-is-what-its-going-to-take-to-get-there vision, created thru meaningful conversations community by community.  

To me, leadership does not mean finding and fixing problems.  It means asking the right questions and generating transformational thinking that creates new solutions and new possibilities.  

So, if we continue to take a cold, hard look at current reality, and commit to a process that cultivates a shared vision of what we want to create and what it will take to get there, I think we'll generate a lot more positive energy, hope, and commitment for the long term in ourselves and others.  And, I think its much more likely that we'll get a future we want to live in.On Umbra on staying positive posted 1 year, 9 months ago 10 Responses