Abstract
An exceptional synthesizer and an elegant translator, Peter Block, has had an extraordinary impact on the practice of Organization Development. By exploring the intersection of scholarship and practice, Peter created a body of work that has had a profound impact on leading transformation and personal freedom. His seemingly endless curiosity, love of ideas, and openness to respond to invitations to work with many early pioneers in the field of OD, combined to form a journey that evolved from an instrumental orientation to life in his youth, to one of a generative restoration of citizen and community.
Peter’s path has been a journey pursuing an alternative future to the past of what could be called organizational patriarchy or colonialism. He has rationalized freedom and choice creating a community of justice and connection as the means for organizing. This approach fosters the opportunity for people to decide for themselves how to make the world a place better. Observing this in what others said or how they cared for the communities illustrated for him that this was possible. In part, what Peter did was to popularize the ideas of freedom, empowerment, stewardship, and community narrative ideas seeing people as living examples of these possibilities.
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Further Reading
Block, P. (1996). Stewardship: Choosing service over self-interest. Berrett-Koehler.
Block, P. (2001). Stewardship: Choosing service over self-interest (2nd ed.). Berrett-Koehler.
Block, P. (2002). The answer to how is yes. Berrett-Koehler.
Block, P. (2008). Community: The structure of belonging. Berrett-Koehler.
Block, P. (2017). The empowered manager: Positive political skills at work. Wiley.
Block, P., Brueggemann, W., & McKnight, J. (2016). An other kingdom: Departing the consumer culture. John Wiley & Sons. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119234319.
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Mangiofico, G. (2020). Block, Peter: A Prophetic Voice for Freedom. In: Szabla, D.B. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Organizational Change Thinkers. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-49820-1_110-1
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