I previously referenced the book, Community Capitalism.  Our local chamber and other organizations recently distributed 1,000 copies of the book (about the revitalization of Kalamazoo, Michigan) to community members along with an invitation to attend one (or more) of three community discussions on the book.

I read the book last night and attended the first discussion this morning.  It was a pleasure but also an eye-opener.  I sat next to a fellow blogger and friend.

Here is what struck me:

When thinking about a challenge, start from a level of appreciation -  I think better when I am in appreciation mode.  Sure, there are crisis situations that demand swift action:  "Mr. Scott, I need warp speed in three seconds or we're all dead."  But most of the time it is better to build upon what is functioning well.

I sat listening to community members list our community assets:  We have two universities (Denison and The Ohio State University), a technical college and a nationally recognized technical school in our community.  I can walk out of my house, across the street and enter a bike path system that most communities would kill for.  We have a strong philanthropic base.  Our downtown is postcard-like.  The industrial community is historic.  If you want to speak with mayors of our key communities, just pick up the phone or stop by.  Other elected officials are helpful.  Our business community is active and includes two strong locally-controlled financial institutions with highly accessible leadership.  Our parks are beautiful, we have a theater that brings national talent to our doorstep.  Pretty impressive, huh?

Yet we have challenges.  And the time to take action is now. 

List, list, list - It helps to stimulate additional thoughts.

Don't ask too much up front - you'll scare everyone off.

Don't hide from challenges, but let's see them as the opportunities they are - When I came back to the office, my daily business fax from one of our locally-controlled financial institutions featured a quotation from Churchill -  The pessimist sees a challenge in every opportunity.  The optimist sees an opportunity in every challenge.

Look to the youth - They are the future.  Comments at the meeting kept returning to our youth.  How do we entice them to return to the community?  How do we better prepare them for the world?  Successful organizations, people and communities never ignore the young.  Remember how young our founders were when they started this nation?  How young were so many of our business leaders when they launched enterprises?  I often learn more from an hour discussion with my children and their friends than from a weeks worth of business meetings.

I left the meeting excited about our future.  When the meeting wrapped up, our facilitator asked how many in the audience would sign on to the next step - action.  All hands up.  Time to start.