REVIEW: The Power of Us by David Price: a must-read if you work in music, arts, charities – and beyond
It’s not often that I buy a book, and then buy two more copies before I’ve even finished it (to give to other people), but I did with this one. And I’ll probably buy more. That’s because David Price writes so engagingly, and with such warmth and insight about subjects that we can all care about if we want to make a difference in the world: collaboration, ingenuity (beyond innovation), diversity, and the power of people to solve the world’s biggest problems.
David Price is an author, trainer and consultant who specialises in organisational learning, innovation and future-proofing. He’s also a former musician, education consultant, and the person behind the early version of the global schools initiative, Musical Futures.
In The Power of Us, he visits organisations harnessing the power of collaboration and diverse thinking, and finds out what we can learn from them to apply to our own work and lives.
Trust and transparency, engagement and equity, autonomy and agency, mastery and meaning are not new, but become more meaningful through David’s stories and insights. The last time I experienced such a feeling of excitement and possibility from a book was reading any of Ken Robinson’s (a close friend of David’s, whose death last yea has left a massive void in the world).
It’s a fascinating book that made me think and made me laugh. It also made me more determined to try to use the tools he outlines, and to champion them when I find them. Reading this in lockdown gave me hope, and a large dollop of food for thought and action.
I’m so glad I read this in lockdown too, as it gave me hope, and a large dollop of food for thought and action.