‘We’ beats ‘I’ all the time: A dialogue with Charles Handy.
In September we had a fascinating conversation with our ‘Thought Leadership Advisor’ Charles Handy at his home in London. Charles has been described as ‘one of the giants of contemporary thought’ and generously shares the depth and breadth of his wisdom with us. Our dialogue was wide-ranging and, as always, shone a wonderful light on our work.
We covered various topics including the nature of leadership, the essence of resilience in the face of adversity and, how to nurture the next generation of changemakers. At the heart of our conversation with Charles was a simple but profound point - how and why deepening human relationship lies at the heart of all meaningful change.
Our latest Ripple Paper gives an inspiring insight into our conversation with Charles. It is called ‘We beats I all the time’ – reflections on meaningful change and the importance of relationships’. This refers to Letter 16 of Charles’ most recent book 21 Letters on Life and its Challenges entitled ‘We’ Beats ‘I’ all the time. Click here to read it.
On the Art and Importance of Dialogue
Our conversation with Charles was a ‘dialogue’. ‘Dialogue’ is defined by William Isaacs as “a shared inquiry, a way of thinking and reflecting together”. In this fascinating short piece ‘The Art of Dialogue’ Isaacs reasons “Dialogue is often the missing-link that frees people to take a quantum leap in vision and action, if everybody got the idea that there’s a different way to talk and think together, the seed of a very new kind of interaction could begin to sprout.” He believes that people who think and talk together effectively possess the following qualities:
LISTENING — We must listen not only to others but to ourselves, dropping our assumptions, resistance, and reactions.
RESPECTING — We must allow rather than try to change people with a different viewpoint.
SUSPENDING — We must suspend our opinions, step back, change direction, and see with new eyes.
VOICING — We must speak our own voice. Find our own authority, giving up the need to dominate.
The Caplor House as a Tool for Dialogue
In October we met with two of Caplor Horizons’ long-standing Advisors Ann (Alder) and Geoff (Cox) at their home in the Lake District, a particularly beautiful part of the UK. Ann and Geoff were instrumental in the design and development of the Caplor House.
During the three days that we spent together we began pioneering work that will enable us to evolve the Caplor House model so that it is a tool for deeper dialogue. It will help people to ask powerful questions and cultivate deep listening skills.
As Ann says in her book Pattern Making, Pattern Breaking: “A great question is one of the most powerful tools in the process of pattern making and pattern breaking. Questions are used to challenge and extend thinking, confront discrepancies, explore reasons, build understanding, seek detail…the list is endless”.
At Caplor Horizons we believe that asking great questions and listening carefully is fundamental to great dialogue…and this is exactly what happens when we meet with our great Advisors like Charles, Ann and Geoff!
Join in the dialogue!
We would like to dialogue with more of you. Please join us on Thursday 2nd March from 11am until 1pm (UK time) for an online webinar where we will share our new Coaching Dialogue Tool and get your insights. More details will follow in the New Year. Watch this space!
Change makers of the week:
Quote of the week: “The intention of dialogue is to reach new understanding and, in doing so, to form a totally new basis from which to think and act.” ― William Isaacs
Best wishes
Lorna, Rosie, Ian, Iain and Kemal