Creating New Equitable Pathways Towards The Future

This is 2 of 2 articles introducing BRIDGE’s “New Pathways” video conversations series (originally published at gwendolynvansant.com).

Organizations and their structures should be designed to serve people and help people flourish, not the other way around. From tiny nonprofits to large manufacturers, organizations need the ability to stay nimble and pivot, identify real community needs, and marshal the resources to address these needs. These things must all work together in tandem. These are the new measures of survival and the new definition of success that I want to work with. 

As we rise to the occasion with this current set of challenges and build responsive, effective structures to support all of our communities, the time is now to create and fully embody a culturally responsive and responsible way of operating. We must embrace the challenge to serve ALL people well. Let’s lean in hard to create a better future, a new and better “order.” Everything that we do now will set us up for the new ways we will live in community and operate together. 

Conversely, the costs of not learning these lessons now are huge. To honor the magnitude of the global loss we are all experiencing, let's embrace the unprecedented opportunity for a complete paradigm shift. Let’s collectively insist: we are not going back to the way we were. In every decision we make, it is important to understand, there is no more waiting “until this passes” either; change is already upon us. COVID-19 has given us the opportunity for transformation now. 

In Surviving the Future: Culture, Carnival and Capital in the Aftermath of the Market Economy, the economist David Fleming provides us with what I believe is an excellent start to a map for how we can proceed using community as our primary avenue forward. He shares three guiding principles toward this end:

“Manners"

“...the rules of thinking, informal logic, judgment and reasonable conversation are rules of good manners… in our new urgent world getting it right matters more. If we are to usefully think through systems-solutions... the first to be aware of is the system of language, insight, and self-deception that guides or confuses the way we think.”

Presence & Scale: 

“[Presence ]... is about rediscovering citizenship, taking part in the life and creativity of well-beloved places that would not, without it, have a hope of coping with the future...”

And In contrast to thinking “large scale” where people require an abundance of resources to remain productive, Fleming writes: 

“...given a chance, communities on a small enough scale for individuals to feel real influence can be so effective that doing the apparently impossible is their daily bread.”

Slack

In contrast to competition (which depends on tension to produce positive outcomes), Fleming explains how “slack” (as in, time to pause and think) is actually what allows for new conditions (based on the concept of “mutual aid”) to emerge and hold strong for a new order. 

“...how do communities manage to keep such an apparently unstable economy going? Well, it turns [to] culture. Sheer naked loyalties and family values can only go so far there… there needs to be something interesting, connecting and going on too--something to talk about, to cooperate in, to mull over, to aim for, to laugh at: there needs to be a story to tell, something to coordinate and do together…”

It may be that we’re finally grasping what Fleming and others predicted: our time, our planet, and our health are all precious. We cannot squander these things, and nothing is guaranteed. We must all be present and totally attentive to the moment at hand, focused on our shared responsibility to pave new pathways together. The work is to heal and transform systems in mutually accountable ways. 

To meet the challenges of this time, I’m curating a new BRIDGE series of talks and action-focused “labs” called “New Pathways” to support new forms of leadership and organizing during and post COVID-19. With video production by Outpost, workshops and talks will address diversity, mindfulness, resilience, perspective, and belonging. Dialogues will be based on intimacy, intentionality, and inclusion to support our collective work ahead. My intention is for this series to serve as both an oxygen mask and a set of new goggles for these times. Stay tuned for talks by Malia Lazu (Regional President and Chief Experience and Culture Officer at Berkshire Bank and Maria Sirois (Expert in Positive Psychology and Mind/Body Medicine).

Why is it so important that we be in dialogue with each other right now?

“Discussion creates a space for people to contribute their own perspective and ensure that several viewpoints and voices can be heard. This creates the divergence and confusion that is needed to make a step forward later on by recognizing that different opinions and viewpoints exist. This phase also helps to challenge existing practices and stretch people’s thinking.” 

-Luc Verheijen and Saskia Tjepkema

Appreciative Inquiry as a Daily Leadership Practice

I invite you to support this growing video library of important conversations.*

No more pausing at the “disrupting and interrupting” phase because the collapse of our old social structures is happening. This moment begs us to be present and mobilized now, in time to construct a new culture based on trust, benevolence, and congruence. Or as Fleming writes, “Let's get back to culture in its original earthy senses of the story and celebration, the guardianship and dance that tell you where you are and who is there with you.” 

We must create new structures that serve us better, knowing that sometimes the result is no formal structure. Lean into the chaos and confusion that we are in. 

As I think again about Fleming’s words, I also think back to the warnings in Octavia Butler’s science fiction novel series starting with Parable of the Sower. We are here now, and it is up to us to create the new way, the new order. In the 1920s and 30s, the Great Depression gave us some routes forward, but those policies and laws only protected the few. One can just read Mehrsa Baradaran’s The Color of Money: Black Banks and the Racial Wealth Gap to see how those decisions did not serve us well. We must not go back to believing “the government will fix this” or wait for leaders to do what is right. 

With what we know now, how will we make better choices for the health and survival of our planet and insist that our government leaders and “influencers” follow what society (our communities) demands?

*In addition to supporting this series, a portion of your donations will go toward directly supporting BRIDGE families adversely impacted already by COVID-19. Learn more about other ways to make a contribution supporting communities most impacted right now. Subscribe at the $250 level or $100 level (BRIDGE members only) for a 6-month subscription.