John McKnight Doesn’t Drink Canada Dry!

Vickie and I had dinner with John McKnight when he was in Vancouver recently. He is as engaged and vital as ever. Listening to him enthusiastically describe the advance of asset based community development concepts to Europe, Australia and other parts of the world reminded me of what a profound impact these ideas have had in my life and in the development of PLAN.

PLAN’s foundation is built on the premise that everyone has a gift and everyone deserves a chance for that gift to be contributed. We have seen the power of relationships not only, in transforming individual lives but also, in helping our organization to thrive. Our focus is asset based. Not only, do we want everyone to be engaged in their community but also, we want to mobilize their financial assets. John’s essence - this spirit of self sufficiency and abundance is infused throughout our work. In fact it is so fundamental we no longer notice it is there.

Perhaps this is the mark of great ideas. Eventually they become self evident and fade into the background. John, I know, would count that as success. He has never been proprietary about his ideas.

I recall when he created the Asset Based Community Development Institute (ABCD) and invited 20 of us to join his team. (I believe he called us faculty but that’s John – ushering all of us under his illustrious shadow at Northwestern, and freely sharing his considerable credibility). It was our first evening together. We were excited but nervous. John stood up, explained why he had decided to create the ABCD Institute as a network rather than a building. He reviewed the core ABCD concepts: asset based; internally focused; relationship driven. Then he did something I have never forgotten and likely will never see again. He looked each of us in the eye and said: ‘Now they’re yours. I give them to you with confidence. I trust you to take care of them and take them in directions I cannot imagine!” We must have been stunned. Because it wasn’t until we woke up the next morning that we realized the magnificence of what had happened – a true blessing from our friend and mentor.

The worry of course is that when ideas are taken for granted, they are in danger of being forgotten, or worse, ignored. The day after our dinner with John, I sat beside Tim Brodhead, President and CEO of the McConnell Family Foundation on a flight to Ottawa. Tim is himself one of Canada’s sharpest minds on effective social change (See his President's Corner). His foundation has also been indelibly transformed by John’s presence and thinking. We agreed John’s ideas are the starting point for everything we do. They are so much a part of our water supply we assume everyone else has been drinking from the same source. We confessed our surprise when others don’t start with the same asset based assumptions; and our frustration at non asset based analysis that continues to lead to costly failure. We recognized that John’s ideas have never been more vital that today and were embedded in the Foundation’s latest venture to accelerate social impact, www.sigeneration.ca .

John confessed one other thing at our dinner – Canada is the country where his ideas have taken root and thrived. If that’s the case it is at least in part due to what’s been added to the water.

LINKS

Asset Based Community Development Institute

The Careless Society – Community and Its Counterfeits; 13 brilliant essays by John McKnight

3 Part CBC Documentary: Community & Its Counterfeits
(1994) $19.00 $34.00, 3-pt
Since the 1950s, when he worked as a community organizer in Chicago, John McKnight has defended neighbourhoods. He argues that communities are disabled when professional services turn active citizens into dependent clients. In conversation with David Cayley, McKnight examines how community is destroyed and how it can be restored.

Editorial, PLAN Honoured by John McKnight, PLANFacts Winter 1999 (Ted Kuntz)

Editorial, A Precious Gift, PLANFacts Fall 2001 (Ted Kuntz)