Principles

Principles that guide my work

Here is a collection of principles that provide the foundation to the way I work in the world:

• When problems are increasingly complex there are no simple answers.
• Whatever the challenge, community is the answer.
• To create a healthier community, connect it to more of itself.
• For stronger systems, create stronger relationships.
• Communities and organizations are living systems, not machines.
• Living systems cannot be steered, controlled or ‘change managed’, they can only be nudged.
• Human beings are capable of self-organizing, given the right conditions.
• The way we meet is a model of the future we want to create.
• Collective clarity of purpose is the invisible leader.
• Who we are together is always different and more than who we are alone.
• If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together.
• If it’s about us, don’t do it without us.
• The wisdom we need is in the room, it just needs to be connected.
• We grow in the direction of the questions we ask, ask what’s possible, not just what’s wrong.
• Start anywhere, follow it everywhere.
• Offer what you can, ask for what you need.
• Expect leadership to come from anywhere.
• Divergent opinions are okay; innovation comes from diverse perspectives.
• The groan zone is where new solutions emerge.
• People support what they’ve had a hand in creating.
• Everything’s a failure in the middle; change occurs in cycles.
• We’re not planning a meeting, we’re planning a harvest.
• Success comes from planning a process, not just an event.