The Best Idea in the World

I read Mark Greene’s book The Best Idea in the World yesterday – full of goodness. It’s all about the need for human beings to be in meaningful relationships with other human beings. Here’s just a few of the ideas which I particularly liked:

• 70% of people don’t leave their jobs – they leave their managers
• Politicians and employers need to create conditions in which people can flourish as whole human beings
• Eating meals together as a family is a predictor of educational attainment [and also spiritual I wonder?]
• Leaders choose teams, but eating together builds them
• 5 factors that effect relational proximity
  • Directness of contact – in oral communication words make up 7% of the message – the rest is gesture, expression, tone etc. Talk face-face, person-person; eat and drink together. A third of British people eat their meals in front of the TV!
  • Continuity of contact – do the school run, use the same local pub, cafe, eatery, paper shop or whatever. Consider the relational cost of moving away from an area.
  • Commonality of purpose – foster some ‘in it together’ Dunkirk spirit.
  • Multiplexity – spend time in different contexts with people
  • Parity – ontological equality and functional difference

And here’s just a few more quotes or paraphrases stitched together:

• Our best friends we see once or twice a year!
• With texts, emails, webcams, social networks, and second lives we are globally wired but relationally disconnected – touched a million times but never embraced. The average US home has more TV’s than people.
• As one writer puts it “One of the oldest human needs is having someone to wonder where you are when you don’t come home at night”.

This is definitely a book worth getting – there’s plenty of material to stimulate thought, and perhaps use for teaching or homegroup series’.

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