Customer Reviews

To Give Their Gifts: Health, Community, and Democracy

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Richard Couto's book is a subtle but steady reminder to us all that there is more to be done before we rest. The book was easy to read and relate to "real life," yet packed a powerful message. Recommended reading for anyone!

Dr. Couto gives us insights into how local cultures change through time, and how an individual with passion and wisdom can improve the quality and quantity of life of those involved. Favorite Quotes:

--I think there are leaders who are not good with detail but can be good with building some mechanism so that that detail is taken care of. If you don't take care of the detail, the quality of leadership starts spiralling downhill and people start leaving.

--I think a leader is by nature sensitive to hearing and paying attention to the people he or she works with. I'd almost have to say a "good" leader because there are leaders who don't pay any attention to that at all and just march forward. But a really good leader, who's going to be effective, is certainly able to always take in new information. Part of that new information is listening to the people that you are involved with. Sensitivity to people is an area where I see an awful lot of failure in lots of leaders.

--Our job, I think, as a community-based organization, is to be a vehicle for other people to lean and self-discover what they have inside their hearts and to provide and opportunity for them to see their vision about what they would like to see happen in the community happen. And so we provide a place for them to meet. We provide technical support for them to carry out their vision, and we facilitate the process. We facilitate the process by which neighbours converse with each other. And that's what we do.