Current e-Journal

This week, we’ve been inviting you to help answer the big question, “What’s next for Creating the Future?”

This process has been exhilarating from its inception. What happens when you let go of the need for control, and instead share that control with your whole community?

What happens is an outpouring of wisdom and possibility. (If you haven’t been part of the fun yet, you can join in here.)

Here is just some of what you've told us so far: 

• Creating the Future muddles through out loud. And by doing so, you provoke me to do so, too.
• What Creating the Future makes possible is a more democratic system of addressing issues. That seems to bubble up in so many of my daily interactions.
• Catalytic Thinking makes it possible to listen more effectively and to engage in productive conflict, which takes us further, faster in relationships.

Each question we’re asking in this process has a purpose:

Question 1: How does Creating the Future’s work fit into your life?
These questions focus on what is important to you – and why. Rather than listening for what people DON’T want, we are focusing on what people DO want, and heading in that direction.

Question 2: Who will be affected?
The marketing mandate to narrowly focus on a target audience excludes so many people who will be affected by what we do. That exclusion then leads to unintended consequences, simply because people were omitted from the conversation in the first place.

Question 3: What could our work make possible for all those people?
We want to be sure our work creates the best possible outcome for anyone who will be affected by what we do. Our plans will then turn those aspirations into actions.

If every plan began with these questions,
imagine how different our communities could be!

Embracing and trusting the people in our communities, aiming at dramatic results guided by their aspirations – these are the first steps in creating what is possible.

If you haven’t already answered these questions, we hope you will do so here.  

Because the people who are affected by our work – you – are the ones who should determine what the next steps in that work will be.

THAT is democracy in action. And we hope you’ll be part of it.

With deep appreciation,