Advice is unfriendly to learning, especially when it is sought. Most of the time when people seek advice, they just want to be heard. Advice at best stops the conversation, definitely inhibits learning, and at worst claims dominance.
Peter BlockRead
Relationship and connectedness are the pre-condition for change. Every meeting, every process, every training program has to get people connected first. Otherwise the content falls on deaf ears. So small groups are an essential building block to any future you want to create.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Effective change requires strong relationships and connections among people.
The quote emphasizes that for any meaningful change to occur, individuals need to establish connections and relationships with one another first. Without these connections, any new information or training will not be absorbed, as it lacks the human element of engagement. Thus, forming small groups is vital to foster collaboration and build a successful future.
Themes
RelationshipsConnectednessChangeSmall GroupsCollaboration
In practice
Example use cases
In a team-building workshop, you might quote this to emphasize the importance of bonding before tackling objectives.
More from Peter Block
All quotes →Invitation is not only a step in bringing people together, it is also a fundamental way of being in a community. It manifests the willingness to live in a collaborative way. This means that a future can be created without having to force or sell it or barter for it. When we believe that barter or subtle coercion is necessary, we are operating out of a context of scarcity and self-interest, the core currencies of the economist.
Peter BlockRead
Good questions work on us, we don't work on them. They are not a project to be completed but a doorway opening onto greater depth of understanding, actions that will take us into being more fully alive.
Peter BlockRead
The goal is to balance a life that works with a life that counts.
Peter BlockRead
How do you change the world? One room at a time. Which room? The one you're in.
Peter BlockRead
We need to tell people not to be helpful. Trying to be helpful and giving advise are really ways to control others. ... Advice, recommendations, and obvious actions are exactly what increase the likelihood that tomorrow will be just like yesterday.
Peter BlockRead
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