I’ve never claimed to be the brightest guy in the world, so it takes me a while to pick up in things that may have been obvious to others for quite a while. But something finally dawned on me this evening while reading yesterday’s Ideas section. The N&R isn’t a newspaper; it’s a center of intellect pushing its own particular brand of group-think.
That particular brand is One Guilford, the N&R-sponsored forum that’s really “started a discussion” about Guilford County’s future. If you don’t believe it, then read the countless articles and columns on the subject over the past couple of weeks. There was more today, and there’s more to come, according to N&R editorial page editor Alllen Johnson, who wrote in his column that “it’s critical to keep moving forward” on One Guilford. In the interests of doing so, the paper will “begin preliminary planning for a follow-up that drills deeper into key issues and ultimately (we hope) leads to a common vision.”
But before that can happen we all need to make sure we get in touch with our feelings, according to Elon University David Noer:
The good news is that our region has a leadership infrastructure with the desire to address these issues. In a “One Guilford” leadership symposium on May 16, 225 community leaders began a dialogue on ways to leverage their activities and create a common focus. However, before they can do this, they need to deal with the debilitating effects of change on themselves and the people in their organizations.
Noer did a little research and came up with four major ways in which members of the community respond to a magnitude of change. While the types of response admittedly were, “to some extent situational and stereotypic,” he concludes
If we are to adequately deal with the issues that face our extended community, we need to help each other overcome the downsides of our individual repsonse patterns.
This type of psycho-analysis has been embedded in the journalism profession for quite some time now, but for some reason the big picture about the N&R’s true purpose in life just hit me today. No big deal, though. The real problem is our local leaders are buying into this stuff.
