One company’s steps to change its culture will not be the same as another’s. A community’s efforts to reduce homelessness will not follow the same path as another’s. Place matters. Similarities between companies or between communities are instructive, but the differences from place to place determine what to do. As such, agency matters. The people with a connection to each other and a stake in the outcomes are best positioned to drive and navigate the direction of change. In fact, they’re the only ones who can.

Such perils as social inequity, poverty, and climate change make it imperative we transform the ways our systems work. We must move beyond quick fixes, single solutions, and filling in gaps. We need to get where we can recognize and seize the opportunities to shift pervasive patterns in our systems that exclude people or limit their potential or threaten the resiliency and sustainability of our communities and livelihoods.

A wise person said, “we move in the direction of our conversations.” To have conversations that help us make sense of what’s going on and explore ways to make things better, we need trust and assurances that we’re in this together. We need our differences to energize and stimulate our thinking and not drive us apart. We need our exchanges to be generative, open to new possibilities and allowing for changes of direction.