Frequently Asked Questions

Is the model for grassroots or institutional efforts?

It's for both. The same 4 conversations help people move from shadow to community building conversations, no matter what the scale and scope of their tangible and intangible assets and roles in the community.

It is just as important that people on the so-called "margins" feel as much of a sense of freedom and responsibility as the "who's who" people in dreaming, engaging gifts in small acts, and inviting people into the process. These conversations are just as important at kitchen tables and coffee shops as they are in boardrooms and public committee rooms.

In fact, these conversations have the power to bridge people across levels and sectors, connecting people across asset, power, and political boundaries.

How small should small acts be?

The size of any act in a community is directly related to the size of the assets and dreams at the table. A small act for a public entity can be a multi-million dollar investment over 10 years. A small act for a group of volunteers can be the launch of a tool barter program in their neighborhood. Every small act however relative in size has the possibility of adding value to the community.

A small act is something that can happen in days or weeks rather than months and years. They naturally lead to next small acts that together provoke meaningful impacts in the community.

How does the model help us get to scale and speed?

Speed and scale in any dream is a function of how fluently we transition through the community building conversations and keep out of the shadow conversations.

Dreams move at the speed and scale of our small acts, and small acts move at the speed of our engaged gifts and invitations. The more small acts a community engages in, the faster growth the community realizes. As architect guru Christopher Alexander suggests in "A Pattern Language", "A town is a concrescence of a million acts." The more gifts we engage and the more people we invite into small acts, the more speed and scale we realize on the way to realizing our dreams.

The important issue is not to allow conversations about speed and scale to paralyze us and support the postponement of the possible slow and small.