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The Abundant Community – Awakening the Power of Families and Neighborhoods

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The Abundant Community – Awakening the Power of Families and Neighborhoods – John McKnight, Peter Block

McKnight and Block are, for me at least, a development ‘dream team’.  John McKnight is a pioneer of the asset based development movement and Peter Block is widely regarded as the consultant’s consultant; one of the very best facilitators of transformation and change.

“There is a growing movement of people with a different vision for their local communities”.

On this side of the Atlantic we might be forgiven for thinking that those with the vision are Cameron, Wei et al, the would be architects of Big Society.  But McKnight and Block recognise that the people with the power to make the transformation happen are not the politicians and the civil servants, but the people that live in community and want it to be a place that they can love.

Central to this transformation is a rebalancing of community away from consumption towards a paradigm of production.  A paradigm where we spend less time earning to pay specialists to provide products and services that we could choose to make ourselves.

There is little or no talk of place-making, regeneration and ribbon cutting projects.  Just people, relationships, skills, interests, passions, associations and what it means to be a competent community.  A place where people learn to support each other and make good thing happen. Of their own volition. Not that of their elected representatives.

The Abundant Community provides powerful and practical insights into how the work of building a competent community can be sustained – even without generous handouts from a benevolent state.

Stylistically the Americanese can be off-putting,  but get past it and you will be generously rewarded.  For me this is one of the most important books of recent years.  Unless of course you make your money from the glass, steel and concrete approach to place-making.

A Complete Lack of Ambivalence…about Goldman Sachs

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Should we be enthusiastic about Goldman Sachs, perhaps the most powerful investment bank in the world, coming into Leeds and helping to train the next generation of Leeds entrepreneurs?

Should we find the idea abhorrent?

Or perhaps we should practice a little ambivalence?

It seem to me we have plenty who are enthusiastic about the idea.  The City Council and Leeds Ahead, who have been instrumental in attracting the Goldman Sachs programme believe it to be a good thing.  And ‘Yorkshire Icon‘ Lord Graham Kirkham, founder of DFS, Conservative Party Funder and one of Yorkshire’s most successful entrepreneurs, has described Goldman Sachs’ support as ‘heaven sent‘.

And it is easy to find those who instinctively reel against the involvement of a major investment bank in such a programme. Never mind one that has been characterised as ‘A Giant Vampire Squid‘

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoUWgI-c9g4&]

As well as generic banker bashing they will cite Goldman Sachs apparently significant influence in the US Government, their alleged involvement in an alleged fraud that led to the RBS losing £545m and several other controversies as reasons why we should consider their role in our city less than ‘heaven sent’.   They may also express concern that one of the partners in the programme, Said Business School, was founded by Wafic Said, friend to the Saudi Royal family, Margaret Thatcher and a key player in helping the UK Govt to win the Al Yamamah Arms deal which has had interesting consequences in the Middle East and for our oil security.

What it seems much harder to find is any ambivalence to the project.

Any sense of a cautious but pragmatic engagement with a strategic partner whose real long term interests in working with 25 of our local businesses, carefully selected for their high growth potential, may not yet be completely clear.  In Goldman Sachs’ own words

‘The Goldman Sachs Foundation works with outstanding organizations to prepare and support the development of the next generation of leaders around the world.  Drawing from the core expertise of Goldman Sachs, our programs in Promoting Leadership, Entrepreneurship and Business Education are designed to give participants practical skills and the broad world view they need to become decision makers and visionaries in the global economy.

Which does not sound entirely like philanthropy to me.  For a bank.  And I wonder what the key elements of the broad world view that they ‘give participants’ really entails.  A sustainable economy?  One where wealth is measured in terms other than cash? Perhaps….Or maybe the core expertise in this piece called the Great American Bubble Machine?

There seems no real understanding that what we may actually have in Goldman Sachs is more of a ‘bedfellow’ than an ‘ally’.   It is this apparent lack of any sense of practical and pragmatic engagement that worries me.

But there are 25 or so successful businesses who are benefiting from the programme, and I have heard lots of good feedback from several independent sources.  And it is keeping much needed revenues rolling into the coffers at Shine so that it can continue its work in the regeneration of the local community.

So perhaps we really shouldn’t worry about whose money we take?

Perhaps it really is ‘All about the economy, stupid’.  And we should not think too deeply about what is really going on.  Just let those who already share the ‘broad world view’ of ‘decision makers and visionaries in the global economy’ get on with it. After all, they have made a pretty good fist of things up to now…

Haven’t they?

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2DRm5ES-uA]

There are things about the programme that I really admire.  Let’s forget the chequered history that even investment bankers have in ‘picking winners’.  The programme is aimed at ‘mid-stage’ businesses with the aspiration and potential to grow, and this has been an area that has not received as much attention as it should.  And it resists the false dichotomy between social business and ‘for profit’ which should make for a much more interesting and powerful mix.

And the programme is a pilot that they hope to roll out across the UK.  So perhaps Goldman Sachs really will be instrumental in developing the next generation of business leaders across the country.

Let’s Talk Funding for Community Groups

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Let’s Talk Funding for Community Groups

Wednesday 30th March 2011

At St George’s Centre,

Great George Street, Leeds, LS1 3BR

9.00am – 1:00pm

A free event to learn more and share best practice on:

  • Making a Funding Plan for your community group/small charity
  • Sources of funding and
  • How to apply for funding

There will also be limited 1-1 advice sessions  with fundraisers/funding advisors so you can discuss particular needs of your group (advance booking necessary).

Please note this event will focus on groups with very limited income (£0.00 to £100,000 per year)

Food and refreshments available on the day.

For further details and/or to book your place contact: Siobhan Humphries, Leeds Community Foundation T. 0113 242 2426 or e-mail

Making Successful Cities – the Apeldoorn Video

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On 6-8 March over a hundred delegates gathered on the 37th floor of the ING building for this year’s edition of the Apeldoorn: British Dutch Dialogue, the main bilateral Conference between the UK and the Netherlands.

I was privileged to be able to contribute…

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZUFY4Glzwg]

Enterprising Communities: The Big Conversation

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‘Enterprising Communities: The Big Conversation‘ will bring together policy makers and practitioners to explore the challenges of developing and sustaining enterprising communities.

Using ‘Open Space’ methodologies The Big Conversation will give you the chance to say what you need to say, exchange ideas with others and build your networks from across the UK.

Topics for exploration might include:

  1. Enterprise – more than just business: enterprise for well being and community
  2. The competent community: the role of peers in supporting enterprise
  3. Fresh approaches to enterprise development: what could innovation in our industry look like?
  4. Opportunities and threats to enterprising communities: what are they and how can we respond?
  5. Enterprising communities: Do we know them when we see them?
  6. Connecting communities: the role of enterprise in building bridges between and within communities
  7. Enterprise and the economy: from enterprise to wealth creation.
  8. Sharing interesting practice: a showcase for innovative approaches.
  9. The Enterprising Campus: lessons for, and from, education
  10. The Coaching Community: can a coaching culture drive community?
  11. Is Capital still King?: the role of knowledge, social capital and finance in creating enterprising communities
  12. Nurturing enterprise: the impact of social media

But this is your conference.  Bring your own ideas for discussion.  Perhaps even a short presentation.

Who Should Attend?

If you want to discuss and explore the challenges involved in creating and sustaining enterprising communities with your peers in a participative and creative environment then this event will be right for you.

Enterprising Communities: The Big Conversation is being organised by Mike Chitty with support from Leeds City Council.

Interested?

Find out and book your place here http://bigconversation.eventbrite.com