What a wild couple of weeks! My apologies for missing last week’s edition of Leadership Notes. A thief made off with my wallet and contents of my briefcase, and so I’ve been frankly preoccupied with getting back on line and making changes to protect my identity and so this work has taken a necessary back seat. I have however had lots to think about and, this event will influence my thinking for some time. And please know, all is well, no one was hurt, and I’ve been very impressed with the speed and compassion with which people in various organizations, including credit card companies, drivers license offices and my colleagues at CUSource getting me back on line and up and running so quickly. Thanks.

That said, I was at a fascinating conference in Cincinnati last week with Peter Block, http://peterblock.com/ John McKnight, http://www.abcdinstitute.org/faculty/McKnight/ and Walter Brueggerman, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Brueggemann exploring community building. About 90 people from across North America, the Caribbean, and South Africa gathered to explore what it means to build and enhance community. Of the many insights gained in the two days, a top one for me was the important difference between a citizen and a consumer. To put in bluntly, consumers don’t rebuild communities after disasters like a flood, tornado or hurricane, citizens do. Peter, John and Walter all stressed that the concept of citizens has been eclipsed by the market defining us as consumers. And we are so much more. We are the people who clean up after a riot. We are the people who show up to feed the hungry. We are the people who give young men a chance to grow into their dreams. We are the people who have passion for their work and lives. We are the people who risk something big for something good. We are the people who work with you, beside you and for you. We are our neighbours. We are our friends.

So my challenge for us all in the coming days; stand up, you are not “a consumer”. You are a human being who sometimes purchases products and services, but you are much more complex than any poll or market analysis will ever give you credit for. The beginning of recovery economically, lies not in what the consumer in us will do today, it’s what the citizen in us will be today.