Peter Block: The Gifts Conversation

The Common Good podcast is a conversation about the significance of place, eliminating economic isolation and the structure of belonging. This is the final episode in the series focusing on the 6 conversations from Peter Block’s work. We’ve journeyed through invitation, possibility, ownership, dissent and commitment. Now, we land the plane with the gifts conversation. These conversations are designed to occur in small groups, seeking to produce transformation in communities.

You can find more about the conversations in Peter's book, Community: Structure of Belonging, and from these videos on Peter's website.

The recited poem was written by your host, Rabbi Miriam Terlinchamp:

I saw the owl again tonight 
Wings spread like silver fingers 
A screech
Deep dive
Making all the rabbits scatter 
When I was little 
It was all bramble and trees out here 
And you never heard the highway 
Which now gives the feel of a distant raging river whose torrents crest their way through the thick foliage
With it’s perfectly manicured trails 
Back then the tree in the front yard was as high as the house
Now it towers above the roof
A foot for every year 
Evergreen and growing 
My home
My heart
Is a great owl hiding between the crush of traffic and the deciduous saplings
Hunter and prey equal in size
Hoot hoot hooting 
With the tensions of time

Dr. Yabome Gilpin-Jackson is an award-winning organizational development leader and scholar who centers equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in all she does. Throughout her career, which has spanned the public, private and non-profit sectors, she has helped people and organizations build capacity for transformational change to advance EDI and belonging in workplaces and society. On January 5th, 2022, Yabome was named SFU’s first Vice-President, People, Equity and Inclusion. Yabome served as the Chief People Officer for the British Columbia Lotteries Corporation, Executive Director of Organizational Development for Fraser Health, and Regional Lead of Organizational Development for Vancouver Coastal Health, as well as a leader of several provincial leadership development and engagement healthcare committees. She is also the founder of Supporting Learning and Development Consulting Inc., which has helped mission-driven organizations, including SFU, UBC and Lululemon, advance leadership, organizational development and processes for systemic and social change.

This episode was produced by Joey Taylor and the music is from Jeff Gorman. You can find more information about the Common Good Collective and the reader here. Common Good Podcast is a production of Bespoken Live and Common Change - Eliminating Personal Economic Isolation.