One of the court disciplines now involves weaving networks in our "civic spaces".  Economic development takes place in the civic space outside the four walls of any one organization.  One of the key insights of the second paragraph, becomes an understanding that we need to organize our civic spaces more effectively.

Many of the challenges and opportunities we face today require us to innovate in new and different ways.  Yet, most communities have no common practice to generate or test new ideas. Even worse,  in some communities the practices of civility have deteriorated dramatically.

Working with our colleagues, Valdis Krebs, June Holley and Jack Ricchuitto,  we have developed training to teach civic leaders the new skills of weaving open networks in their communities.