Book Review The Power of Us by David Price

Stars 5 out of 5

Time taken to read: 2 months (#onenapatatime & #FEReadingCircle

Recommended: by Reading Circle group

Inspiration: People power / Culture change.

New things: I have the physical book, on Audible and have looked at Youtube videos to review ideas. 

Plan to read the toolkit when available and review book at a later stage.

The book was written and then the pandemic happened, parts were rewritten to reflect the situation we were in.

It was well written with lots of facts and case studies, putting the information into real life situations. The first part was very fact heavy.

The pandemic has been a strange time for everyone. I'm fortunate that we live near my mother and my face to face social life was slow. I enjoyed the slower pace and WFH to stay safe with my family.

I work in education and it was hard for many learners to adjust or get access, some excelled with a different medium to use their voice but not be seen by their peers.

Summary/detail:

We all knew where we were when major news items or political changes happened!  I even discussed them in my classes, the EU referendum for Brexit to name one of them.

These rocked the boat of the "isms" and affected levels of trust of people in power.

The book was split into 6 sections which was great for our #FEReadingCircle. We read X chapters and discussed using "Thinking Environment" principles. 

We were lucky to have David join us for a session to see how our space worked and add his thoughts. He then also joined us to talk about the book. He was great and so generous. In fact the book resonates with me still on so many levels, months after starting this blog.

In fact this summer on holiday I heard this which made me think about the book. Pink - What About Us https://youtu.be/ClU3fctbGls

Identity 

The competition of showing the 'right' side to people.

Education is training for different world of "tests" when jobs may be different and require more adaptable skills.

The youth have had a turbulent education and grades based on evidence where they may not have been working their hardest. Led to "Learned helplessness".

Creation rather than consumption. Sharing knowledge and social media/technology usage. Fact checking is important though.

Scalable learning - a culture change of admiting something isn't working and working together to fix it.

Self Determiniation Theory (SDT) 

Competence

Relatedness

Autonomy

Case study: The AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (Act up) - inside out thinking.

****up to chapter 3 - people powered innovation history.

 I then started reading but not taking notes in so much detail.  The start was really detailed and fact orientated.

Part two Mindset

Chap 4 - Positive mindset (Dwerk)

Chap 5 - Lead patients not waiting, trying out alternatives

Chap 6 - Values and attitudes 

1. Foster communities, not competition

2. Stay true to your roots

3. Find your tribe

4. Don't try to fake it

Part 3 Operating system

CHAP 7

Organisational working with innovation and creativity

Chap 8 Open Learning

Innovation

Part 4 - Leadership

Chap 9 architects, not surgeons. Traits include;

Humility, morality, vulnerability, enableability

Security

Curiosity

Chap 10

The CEO as lead learner

Part 5 toolkit

Chap 11 - unleashing the power of us

Trust&Transparency, engagement & Equity, Autonomy & Agency, mastery and meaning

Chap 12 - street protests/activism

Chap 13 "future is theirs"

Chap 14 How shall we live?

Reflections

The time is now, the need is us, international collaborative efforts. How?

I realised that I really struggle to focus on Audible unless I've heard it before or my hands aren't busy.

Youtube was useful for promotional videos and discussions extending thoughts in book.

David attended a reading circle in our style of The Thinking Environment. This helped understand things.

Lastly he attended one session for a Q&A.

I think this is a book I'd refer to again. It's lovingly dog-eared from various trips. I'd recommend this book.