an online book by David Gurteen
Peter Block is a consultant, speaker, and author in the field of organizational development. He is known for his work on creating more empowered and engaged workplaces through community-building and collaboration.
Peter Block (born 1939) is an American author, consultant, and speaker in the areas of organization development, community building, and civic engagement.
He was born to Jewish parents, Ira and Dorothy Block. He currently resides with his wife, Cathy Kramer, in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Credit: Wikipedia - Peter_BlockDissent is the cousin of diversity; the respect for a wide range of beliefs. This begins by allowing people the space to say “no.” If we cannot say “no” then “yes” has no meaning. Each needs the chance to express their doubts and reservations without having to justify them or move quickly into problem-solving. “No” … Continue reading If We Cannot Say “no” Then “yes” Has No Meaning Peter Block
Peter Block is an American author, consultant, and speaker in the areas of organization development, community building, and civic engagement. He has had a huge influence on my thinking around Conversational Leadership, particularly his book Community: The Structure of Belonging Community: The Structure of Belonging | Peter Block WebsiteAbundant CommunityWikipediaPeter BlockBlogAbundant CommunityYouTubePeter BlockGooglePeter BlockPosts: Peter BlockConnection … Continue reading Peter Block Author, Consultant and Speaker
Leadership begins with understanding that every gathering is an opportunity to deepen accountability and commitment through engagement. It doesn’t matter what the stated purpose of the gathering is. Each gathering serves two functions: to address its stated purpose, its business issues; and to be an occasion for each person to decide to become engaged as … Continue reading How Leadership Begins Peter Block
We are all problem solvers, action oriented and results minded. It is illegal in this culture to leave a meeting without a to-do list. We want measurable outcomes and we want them now. What is hard to grasp is that it is this very mindset which prevents anything fundamental from changing. We cannot problem solve … Continue reading Transformation Is About a Shift in Language and Conversation Peter Block
Never help: (all fixing people is a form of colonialism). Credit: Peter Block Comment: Some context for this quotation: Don’t Give AdvicePosts where this quotation is embedded C-group Develop your interpersonal and conversational skills Connection Before Content Without relatedness, no work can occur Introduction: Small Group Conversations Small groups are an essential building block to any future … Continue reading Never Help: Fixing People Is a Form of Colonialism Peter Block
In this book, Confronting Our Freedom, Peter Block and Peter Koestenbaum deliver an exciting and engaging new take on management and leadership. Drawing on recent events in the market and in the world, including the Great Resignation, the COVID-19 pandemic, and widespread digital transformation, the authors invite you to reimagine ideas of freedom and accountability … Continue reading Confronting Our Freedom: Leading a Culture of Chosen Accountability and Belonging by Peter Block, Peter Koestenbaum (2023)
On accountability | Peter Block Posts where this video is embedded C-group Develop your interpersonal and conversational skills Connection Before Content Without relatedness, no work can occur Introduction: Small Group Conversations Small groups are an essential building block to any future you want to create Knowledge Café: Purpose Every Knowledge Café should have a clear purpose Meetings and Conversations … Continue reading Peter Block on Accountability Peter Block
We think that if we can control or predict how a conversation will go, it will improve its quality and get us what we want. The penchant for planning our encounters is a distrust of ourselves and each other as spontaneous beings. Credit: Peter Block Source: Confronting Our Freedom (page 78)Posts where this quotation is … Continue reading Predicting or Controlling a Conversation Peter Block
The question is, what qualifies as action? Traditionally , we want a strategy, and a list of next steps and milestones , and the knowledge of who will be responsible for them in order to be satisfied that we have spent our time well when we are together. Any change in the world will, in … Continue reading The Question Is, What Qualifies as Action? Peter Block
Accountabilty is the willingness to acknowledge that we have participated in creating, through comission or ommision, the conditions that we wish to see changed. Without this capacity to see ourselves as cause, our efforts become either coercive or wishfully dependent on the transformation of others. Community will be created the moment we decide to act … Continue reading How Have I Contributed to the Current Reality? Peter Block
Powerful questions are those that, in the answering, evoke a choice for accountability and commitment. Credit: Peter Block Posts where this quotation is embedded C-group Develop your interpersonal and conversational skills Connection Before Content Without relatedness, no work can occur Introduction: Small Group Conversations Small groups are an essential building block to any future you want to … Continue reading Powerful Questions Evoke a Choice for Accountability and Commitment Peter Block
We must establish a personal connection with each other. Connection before content. Without relatedness, no work can occur. Credit: Peter Block Comment: One of the most powerful insights from Peter Block. One that should always be kept in mind when designing any meeting or gathering.Posts where this quotation is embedded C-group Develop your interpersonal and conversational … Continue reading Connection Before Content – Without Relatedness, No Work Can Occur Peter Block
Gurteen Knowledge Blog March 24, 2025, 12:01What if leadership isn’t about providing answers or control but confronting people with their freedom? In this post, in my blook, I reflect on Peter Block’s powerful view of leadership as an act of love—and its surprising connection to Dostoevsky’s Grand Inquisitor. Both challenge us to consider whether we truly … Continue reading The Burden of Freedom What Peter Block and Dostoevsky reveal about true leadership
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. Credit: Peter Block Posts where this quotation is embedded C-group Develop your interpersonal … Continue reading Relationship and Connectedness Are the Pre-condition for Change Peter Block
The search for human freedom—freedom being the choice to be a creator of our own experience and accept the unbearable responsibility that goes with that. Out of this insight grows the idea that perhaps the real task of leadership is to confront people with their freedom. This may be the ultimate act of love that … Continue reading The Real Task of Leadership Is to Confront People with Their Freedom Peter Block
Overview This booklet is written for citizens who care for the well-being of their community. It is for those people who want to live in a neighborhood and a city that works for all its citizens and who have the faith and the energy to create such a place. It is for those of us … Continue reading Civic Engagement and the Restoration of Community: Changing the Nature of the Conversation Peter Block (2007)
The power to create a future requires us to choose to be accountable. To be accountable, among other things, means you act as an owner and part creator of whatever it is that you wish to improve. In the absence of this, you are in the position of effect, not cause … a powerless stance. To be accountable … Continue reading Choose to Be Accountable Peter Block
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. Credit: Peter Block Posts where this quotation is embedded C-group Develop your interpersonal and conversational skills Connection Before Content … Continue reading Don’t Give Advice Peter Block
It is a misuse of our power to take responsibility for solving problems that belong to others. Credit: Peter Block Posts where this quotation is embedded C-group Develop your interpersonal and conversational skills Connection Before Content Without relatedness, no work can occur Introduction: Small Group Conversations Small groups are an essential building block to any future you … Continue reading Misuse of Our Power Peter Block
A new future is created when each gathering (or meeting) becomes an opportunity to deepen accountability and commitment through engagement. It doesn’t matter what the stated purpose of the gathering is. Each gathering serves two functions: (1) to address its stated purpose and (2) to be an occasion for each person to decide to become … Continue reading A Gathering Serves Two Functions Peter Block
Questions are more transforming than answers. The skill is getting the questions right. The traditional conversations that seek to explain, study, analyze, define tools, and express the desire to change others are interesting but not powerful. Questions open the door to the future and are more powerful than answers in that they demand engagement. Engagement … Continue reading Questions Are More Transforming Than Answers Peter Block
The Etymology of Curiosity The Fable of the Bees Close Pop-up all posts in this chapter What’s the Vibe? Please be patient as this may take up to a minute to load… Close Leadership is often seen as providing guidance and security. However, authentic leadership may lie in confronting people with their own freedom, even … Continue reading Peter Block, the Grand Inquisitor, and Leadership Leadership, freedom, and the burden of responsibility
As a response to the increasing violence in our culture, the widening ideological divides, and the growing gap in economic well-being, there is greater awareness that a deeper sense of community is desperately needed. But even as we acknowledge the need to build community, the dominant on-the-ground practices about how to engage people, civically and … Continue reading Community: the Structure of Belonging by Peter Block (2018)
Wisdom of Crowds of Crowds What Is the Optimum Group Size for a Conversation? Close Pop-up all posts in this chapter What’s the Vibe? Please be patient as this may take up to a minute to load… Close Small group conversations are at the heart of Conversational Leadership, but there are several challenges to be … Continue reading Introduction: Small Group Conversations Small groups are an essential building block to any future you want to create
The Jazz of Conversations Why Face-to-face Interaction Matters ** Close Pop-up all posts in this chapter What’s the Vibe? Please be patient as this may take up to a minute to load… Close Meetings or, more generally, conversations serve two purposes. The first is obvious, and that is to fulfill their aim. The second is less … Continue reading Meetings and Conversations Serve Two Purposes There is a second purpose to any meeting which we often overlook
Introduction: Principles of Conversational Leadership II. Embrace Complexity Close Pop-up all posts in this chapter What’s the Vibe? Please be patient as this may take up to a minute to load… Close Take responsibility: In life, we can choose to take responsibility in several ways. Most critically, we can choose to take ownership of the … Continue reading I. Take Responsibility We need to take responsibility for the changes we wish to see in the world
Politics Is Life Lashon Hara Close Pop-up all posts in this chapter What’s the Vibe? Please be patient as this may take up to a minute to load… Close People often say, “I have no choice,” but that’s rarely true. Even in the most challenging situations, we can choose our attitude, response, and actions. These … Continue reading We All Have the Freedom to Choose If We Choose To The last of human freedoms
Orality ** Verbal Judo ** Close Pop-up all posts in this chapter What’s the Vibe? Please be patient as this may take up to a minute to load… Close Research shows that engaging in short friendly conversations boosts people’s performance on a variety of cognitive tasks. A study in 2011 by researchers at the University … Continue reading Friends with Cognitive Benefits Engaging in short friendly conversations improves people’s thinking
Community of Practice ** Conversare Events Close Pop-up all posts in this chapter What’s the Vibe? Please be patient as this may take up to a minute to load… Close Relationships shape how we work together. Too often, tasks take priority over connection, making collaboration difficult. Building relationships first—connection before content—creates trust, engagement, and openness, … Continue reading Connection Before Content Without relatedness, no work can occur
Changing People ** Be Open and Transparent ** Close Pop-up all posts in this chapter What’s the Vibe? Please be patient as this may take up to a minute to load… Close We are familiar with the concept of cause and effect, and in most situations, it is apparent which is the cause and which … Continue reading Reversing Cause and Effect The conversation creates the speakers
A Knowledge Café Is a Gathering Knowledge Café History Close Pop-up all posts in this chapter What’s the Vibe? Please be patient as this may take up to a minute to load… Close There is nothing new about the Knowledge Café, or is there? When people say that something is not new, they usually mean … Continue reading What’s New About the Knowledge Café? In some ways it is not new but in others it isn’t
Raising the Ships on the Sea Everyone Believes They’re the Good Guy Close Pop-up all posts in this chapter What’s the Vibe? Please be patient as this may take up to a minute to load… Close Invitation is not only a step in bringing people together, it is also a fundamental way of being in … Continue reading Invitation and Community ** Invitation is a fundamental way of being in a community
Listen with the Intent to Understand Don’t Give Advice Close Pop-up all posts in this chapter What’s the Vibe? Please be patient as this may take up to a minute to load… Close Don’t Discourage Dissent: Many view conflict as bad and try suppressing it, but disagreement is healthy. It is an opportunity to have … Continue reading Don’t Discourage Dissent Fear, uncertainty and doubt are good things
Don’t Discourage Dissent Banter with Care Close Pop-up all posts in this chapter What’s the Vibe? Please be patient as this may take up to a minute to load… Close Don’t give advice: At first thought, the idea that providing personal advice is a bad thing, especially when sought, seems rather strange. It may seem … Continue reading Don’t Give Advice Especially when it is sought
Evidence for a Collective Intelligence Factor in the Performance of Human Groups ** The Mehrabian Myth Close Pop-up all posts in this chapter What’s the Vibe? Please be patient as this may take up to a minute to load… Close Questions shape our understanding and actions. The right questions spark curiosity, challenge assumptions, and lead … Continue reading How to Design Powerful Questions Questions open the door to dialogue and discovery
Are There Any Questions? Let’s Get Rid of Lecterns Close Pop-up all posts in this chapter What’s the Vibe? Please be patient as this may take up to a minute to load… Close How many people at a conference or a workshop genuinely engage with the day and consider they are as much an owner … Continue reading Peter Block’s Four Ownership Questions Are you prepared to take responsibility for the learning and engagement of others?
Speed Consulting Street Epistemology Close Pop-up all posts in this chapter What’s the Vibe? Please be patient as this may take up to a minute to load… Close I often run a speed-conversation session at the start of a Knowledge Café and workshops or conferences. It is a great ice-breaker and exceptionally easy to run. … Continue reading Speed-conversation Without relatedness, no work can occur
Knowledge Café: Sharing Actionable Insights Knowledge Café: No Report-outs Close Pop-up all posts in this chapter What’s the Vibe? Please be patient as this may take up to a minute to load… Close In the context of a conversation or other form of communication such as an online discussion forum a contribution is off-topic if … Continue reading Knowledge Café: Going Off-topic It is OK to off-topic
