Where to Now?

This past weekend a friend and I spent a weekend in the Napa Valley in Northern California. We meet about three times a year with no agenda or reservations. The weekend unfolds as it unfolds. This weekend we were led to a conversation involving the Law of Intentionality. Which states, "you want what you have in your life."

For example, if you are in job you hate, you would rather have it than leave for something else--whatever the reason might be. If you are in an ongoing dysfunctional relationship, then that relationship is preferable to leaving it. And the list goes on and on, such as work-life balance, an unsuccessful career, under performing in school, etc. In essence, "you create your reality" more than you acknowledge to yourself.

Our conversations extended to groups. Are African Americans doing enough to help themselves? Is a position of victimization going to serve our best interests in the long run--irrespective of whatever wrongdoings have been done in the past? As America progresses at and accelerated rate, are we keeping pace? What are the consequences of being left behind? And most of all, is our own mind-set our greatest deterrent? How would we behave if we assumed 100% responsibility for our collective condition in the U.S?

We also discussed other groups. How would the state of racism transform if majority individuals admitted the racial bias and discrimination are active, alive, and practiced in every aspect of American society? How would the polarization that exists change if we truly began the process of cultural integration instead of cultural assimilation? What would happen if we created a "tipping point" of diversity by those in power?

These are a few of the questions we explored. We did decide that if humans are committed to their continued existence on this planet we call Earth, then we are going to have to begin asking, dialoguing, and acting on very, very, uncomfortable questions. I emphasize again, tipping points are never started by appointed leadership. They start because of the concern of people right where they are within the sphere they influence. The multiplying factor will take care of itself if there is sufficient public concern.

At the conclusion, we discussed the possibility of putting together "An African-American Leadership Retreat" focused on transforming the context of our approach to change rather than a content-oriented approach. The question we were left with is could we attract enough participants to attend? The number we had in mind is 20-25 participants. What do you think?