The Power of Frame
admin November 2nd, 2007
(Frances) I head for Burlington in two hours—while still absorbing all I’ve learned from Boulder, Denver, Portland, Seattle and near home last night in Jamaica Plain.
In Portland an extraordinary trailblazer, Jeff Goebel, who I had not seen for at least 15 years, came to my dialogue with students. It was as if I’d planted him there to prove my point about the power of frame! Jeff shared his experiences in Mali working with poor farmers. He told us that he first asked the village to come up with all the reasons they could not increase food yields without buying chemical fertilizers, pesticides and seeds from global agrochemical giants. They listed 41. Then, he asked that they change their frame to “possibility thinking.” They then began to see all the ways open to them. Four years later they had increased crop yields 78 percent!
Jeff is a deeply holistic thinker/doer who also incorporates what in Getting a Grip I call “the arts of democracy” in his work. He enables people to learn not just about more effective relationships with our earth but with each other—truly listening and using conflict creatively. Even his website address—aboutlistening.com—conveys this spirit. (Download a PDF of Jeff’s Africa presentation by right-clicking here.)
The next day, through the window at my book signing in Portland, I saw one of the most spectacular farmers’ markets anywhere! With such markets growing 2 ½ times in a decade—surely more evidence of possibility thinking! In the photo I’m basking in the beauty of the market with my fabulous PSU host Jim Turner.
Frances
