Between Fretting about the National Economy and Hunkering Down at Our Desks: A National Dialogue Series on the New Economy

January 27, 2015

Originally published by axiomnews.com

With news like that of the heightened risk of inflation and even more jobs on the line as Target announces its plans to pull out of the country, the sense that Canada’s economy is skating onto increasingly brittle ice can leave one feeling a need to do one or both of two things: fret or hunker down and work even more feverishly at what’s still left on one’s desk to get done.

Both reactions are a natural outgrowth of a belief that the economy is largely out of our control.

But a small group engaged in launching a national dialogue series on the new economy is working from an entirely different premise: That we do have power over the state of the economy — and can have much more if we join together with others who believe a different reality is possible.

These folks are imagining what could happen if people from across sectors and geographies joined a regularly held, thoughtfully designed and hosted set of dialogues on the broad topic of a new economy.

Imagine if people had a chance to both learn from content leaders sharing their brilliance and also meet and talk with other practitioners holding the same burning sense of possibility. Top that all off with stories and follow-up small-group conversations, again, all emanating from this same sense that we can and will do things differently, that we are able to create a preferred future, that we do not have to willy-nilly take what’s handed down to us – and we will be doing the work of changing Canada’s economy story right here and now.

Now if that doesn’t sound both promising and fun, I don’t know what will. Perhaps hunkering down and fretting?

Updates will be provided soon on how to become a participant in the dialogues, which are slated to begin in February. In both cases, we’re looking for people who have already come to the conclusion although what they’re doing is great work and it’s having great impact, it’s not enough. They’re recognizing that they need to do more, that all of us, collectively need to do things differently.

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