I’m putting it on a page for the first time. Sharing the words that start to form around the idea.

In various threads of work, from the new chapter of Quiet Leadership, through the Community Builder work, and the Landscape of Trust, i have explored what it means to be together, to belong. What does it give us (in terms of learning, in Organisations, in the context of Social Leadership) and what does it take away (in terms of diversity of stories, of freedom, of behaviour). We seek togetherness, and yet to do so often involves defining, and separating from, the other.
Otherness is an identity in itself, but can be one imposed upon us: the outsider, the non conformist, the outcast. The different.
Our ecosystem houses us all: those who belong and those left out, those who are with us, and those against.
But where do we lead? Just for those with whom we are together, or for all? And what value do the voices of the other bring, if any?
We typically describe how we seek out and welcome diversity and difference, but that can be a two dimensional description of a three dimensional space: sometimes i think we welcome sameness, we welcome near difference, but then there is a space too far.
There is always difference, there is always the other.
As we move into 2023, this is one aspect of Social Leadership that i will be exploring further. How we lead, where we lead, and who is left out.
What it means to be together.
What it means to be other.