I am working with Lennie Rose from Big Ooga who shared with me a compelling story of her vision for the future.
Inspired by her vision, I chose to connect with her tribe and create a weave for her next gathering. This is a community of accomplished entrepreneurs and small business owners focused on lifting each other, getting gigs and referring work. We began by asking:
How are we going to be when we gather together?
The questions that we ask influence the conversation at an event. As we were designing the questions for the weave, we then asked ourselves: what questions if asked, would allow the group to connect, provoke authenticity and allow the potential to unfold?
These are the three areas of questions, we selected, inspired by three different authors.
1. Make visible the talents of the people
Firstly we wanted to build a community based on the strengths, the talents and the gifts of the people and encourage conversations about our gifts and talents. This simple shift in conversation is inspired by Peter Block’s book, Community: The Structure of Belonging. Peter shows how we can change the existing context of community from one of deficiencies, interests, and entitlement to one of possibility, generosity, and gifts.
2. Share the needs of the community
We wanted to encourage people to arrive at the event asking “How can I help?” By sharing the needs of individuals and businesses we hope to give people the tools to connect with the people then can most effectively help. People are happiest when they know their strengths and use them to their full advantage. As Jonathan Haidt shares in The Happiness Hypothesis activities that lead to flow, such as accomplishing something, learning something or improving yourself lead to a more lasting happiness than personal gratification, like eating an ice-cream.
3. Tell your story of change
This time we were inspired by Tribes written by Seth Godin (in addition to his book has a great Ted talk video). As this community is still in the forming stage, and contains many entrepreneurs and tribal leaders, we wanted to encourage people to share their own story of the future. Lennie has a sense that there is an existing yearning out there and a compelling vision of the future which challenges the status quo. She is indeed a heretic and a tribal leader! We want to listen to what matters to the other attendees and by listening, it would allow us to connect to this common yearning and with the people the community is to lead.
These questions were chosen for Big Ooga, a community filled with accomplished entrepreneurs and small business owners focused on lifting each other, getting gigs and referring work. To learn more and to be part of this weave, please join us on August 4th, by registering here.
