“We need to tell people not to be helpful. Trying to be helpful and giving advice are really ways to control others.
Advice is a conversation stopper…we want to substitute curiosity for advice.
No call to action.
No asking what they are going to do about it.
Do not tell people how you handled the same concern in the past.
Do not ask questions that have advice hidden in them, such as “have you ever thought of talking to the person directly?”
Often citizens will ask for advice. The request for advice is how we surrender our sovereignty. If we give in to this request, we have, in this small instance, affirmed their servitude, their belief that they do not have the capacity to create the world from their own resources; and more important, we have supported their escape from their own freedom.”
Community – The structure of belonging – Peter Block
“One of the basic elements of the relationship between oppressor and oppressed is prescription. Every prescription represents the imposition of one individual’s choice upon another, transforming the consciousness of the person prescribed to into one that conforms with the prescriber’s consciousness.”
Pedagogy of the Oppressed – Paulo Friere
“It was wonderful! Incredibly powerful – just to be listened to.”
Participant on an Introduction to Enterprise Coaching Programme.
