Audio Recordings

Connecting4Community Conference Call

In April, 2012, Charles Holmes and Louise van Rhyn convened a conference call with John McKnight, Walter Brueggemann and Peter Block for a group of community builders in anticipation of a conference held in Cincinnati, Ohio, in May 2012. This clip features parts of John, Peter and Walter's comments on small group discussions that have wider interest.

Conversation with John, Peter and Edgar Cahn: No More Throw-Away People

Download or listen to John and Peter's April 2nd convesation with social activist and inventor of timebanking Edgar Cahn. In this hour-long audio clip they share their thoughts on abundance and scarcity, money and institutions, ways to re-valuing what has been de-valued in the economic world ... and much more.

Related:

Time Banking: An Idea Whose Time Has Come? (Cahn)
The Lathrup Village Time Bank (video)
About Time (Clare Goff)

Olivia Saunders and Peter Block: How to Create Abundance and Eliminate Scarcity

Peter and Olivia discuss how we can shift our thinking from such mainstream socioeconomic concepts as individualism, competition and scarcity to ideas like abundance and service. If we stop trying to hold on to an economic system that is geared toward self-perpetuation and does not serve people, we can effect real change in the world.

March 5, 2012 on Robert Thompson's Thought Grenades BlogTalkRadio. Running time 30:18.

The Economics of Neighborliness (Block)
The Economy Is in Our Hands, We Just Don't Know It (Block)
Enterprising Economy (Block)

John and Peter: The Conversation on Fallibility

Download or listen to the hour-long February 7th "Conversation on Fallibility" to hear John and Peter's thoughts on reframing how to see people in terms of their gifts, how increasing competition and proliferating technology affect our ability to share our gifts, how our culture deals with the reality of deep fallibility... and much more.

Related:

Peter Block: Creating Change through Consent and Connectedness

Clips from Peter's recent online seminar and discussion with Tamarack president and co-founder Paul Born explore the emerging narrative of community that results when we shift our thinking from reforming what is to focusing upon the alternative we want to create.

Topics include: What Time Is It? What We Need More Of. Overcoming Isolation. Youth, Community and Social Media. Revitalizing Neighborhoods. Writings to Ground This Work.

Conversation with John and Peter: Health Care Reform

Download or listen to the hour-long December 6th conversation Health Care Reform to hear John and Peter's thoughts on the difference between health and medical care, the role of local food and culture in producing health, what leadership means for helping local people overcome isolation...and much more.

Peter Block: On Robert Thompson's Thought Grenades

Peter chats with Robert Thompson and Mike Neiss about small things with large results for empowering neighborhoods and building community.

Conversation with John and Peter: Occupy Wall Street—An Opening for Abundance

Download or listen to the hour-long October 18th conversation Occupy Wall Street—An Opening for Abundance to hear John and Peter engage with callers on questions and issues like how to detach ourselves from systems that devalue out gifts and assets, Main Street as an opportunity to know one another commercially, and "the value of nothing." Links, website and other recommendations at Recommended Reading.

Peter Block: Focusing on What Is Possible

What happens when people choose to focus on what they can achieve to improve their communities, not just on what is wrong? This is the question that leads to successful community change, Peter says, as he talks about how people and organizations can focus on the strengths of their communities and then build on those assets to create a future together.

Interview with Hildy Gottlieb of Making Change, podcast of The Chronicle of Philanthropy
June 7, 2011

Home page photo: Quapan

Peter Block: Community—The Structure of Belonging

In a series of clips from his 2010 interview with Tamarack president and co-founder Paul Born, Peter talks about who he is, what led him to his work and his thoughts about why we need to "give voice" to a new narrative for community. He shares his ideas on what is needed to create this new narrative and how it can help to transcend the isolation and polarization that dominates many of our communities.

Topics include: What Is Community? The Cost of Isolation. Creating a New Narrative. The Dynamic Relationship of the Small Group and the Whole.