The Science of Community-Building
Applying scientific principles to leadership practices

Some years ago a popular song extolled the dawning of the “Age of Aquarius.” At the risk of sounding overly dramatic, we may very well be at the dawning of another age – one that has yet to acquire a label or ready description.

This new age is best represented by Margaret Wheatley in her book Leadership and New Science, where she applies new scientific principles to management and leadership practices.

Wheatley describes the scientific world first in terms of the Newtonian age and its reliance on the mechanical physics of gravity and then in the context of the brave new world of quantum physics, where relationships – some imperceptible to human senses – become the key to understanding how the world works.

Wheatley’s theories and ideas are merging with others into a new way of viewing how we interact with each other in these times of global interaction and instant communication.

Although the 24-hour news agencies vowed that their purpose was to create a kinder, warmer global village, what has developed instead regularly shows us what little control we have over our destiny.

The horrors of 9/11 served only to reinforce and punctuate our inability to control these feelings of helplessness. Does that have an impact on every community? You bet! It has everything to do with where we live, how we live and how we will come together in the future.

That’s where Wheatley comes in. Newtonian physics, best exemplified by the grade-school image of an apple falling on Newton’s head, underpins the industrial age. Machines could be invented, their replaceable parts could be fixed, and the world would whir along as the sum of its parts. Indeed, only through understanding the parts could we understand the whole. Then, according to Wheatley, the world changed.

The 20th century spawned quantum scientific theory – the idea that there exists outside our normal senses a world of possibilities with more discoveries taking place every minute. The theory offers the intriguing possibility – and probability – that one thing leads to another in the world of atoms and electrons, as if in a strange connected chain reaction.

As the basic building blocks of all matter, these particles demonstrate a remarkable connectedness not unlike that found in human relationships – in families, corporations and perhaps even communities.

Those of us in the business of community building have known for some time that those places that do particularly well are those with a sense of connectedness, spirit, civic capacity. Communities that have the edge are those where, at the neighborhood or city-wide level, there is a shared vision of the future – something that is vital, but cannot be seen or touched. Communities without that intangible quality often don’t fare as well, even when they are rich in resources and have a strong physical infrastructure.

Good communities follow basic unwritten rules – something that outsiders grasp in sometimes unusual ways. A case in point: Companies on economic development siting trips have been known to tour local cemeteries to assess their upkeep: A well-kept cemetery being a sure sign of positive community energy and spirit.

Those of us who extol the lost art of citizenship are caught off guard when asked to describe exactly what is missing. All we know is that machines and their creations do not adequately address the nature of building strong community life today.

Wheatley uses the destruction of the Berlin Wall as an example of engaged citizens. The fall did not come from the efforts of state leaders, but from the words and actions of ordinary citizens who brought about what no one predicted.

It is intriguing and exciting to consider how people not only could transform their communities and defy the odds by making a good life for everyone but also change the world – one community at a time.

Wheatley uses an analogy to demonstrate the marvel of scientific principles that underlie what may appear impossible to the naked human senses: “How do you hold 100 tons of water in the air with no visible means of support? You build a cloud.”

So it is with building communities.

Sylvia L. Lovely is executive director and CEO of the Kentucky League of Cities.
editorial@lanereport.com

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