Thu, 13 Aug 2026 07:44:24 -0700WeeblyFri, 06 Aug 2010 22:21:20 GMThttps://www.ethicalleadership.org/gs-blog-5/a-tool-to-promote-the-common-good A Tool to Promote the Common Good Gracious Space Blog post #5 August 6, 2010 by Pat Hughes and Bill Grace

The common good can mean many things, but over the past dozen years repetitive themes have emerged to define the common good, including equity, fairness and the opportunity for every person to be clothed, fed, healthy, safe and free to achieve their potential.

For many years, the Center’s definition of the common good was: liberty and justice for all, with an additional measure of mercy and compassion for the least fortunate and the most vulnerable among us. The Center’s definition has evolved to consider the broader aspects of social, environmental and economic justice. The Center now defines the common good as fostering healthy, just and inclusive communities.

One of the founding purposes of the Center for Ethical Leadership has been to promote the common good, and creating Gracious Space is central to that work. In Gracious Space, we can look at the current situation and ask ourselves: “Who is most vulnerable today?”  “Who is the least fortunate?”  “How do we foster healthy, just and inclusive communities?”  Gracious Space brings all voices into the discussion.  It provides an environment for the hard work of examining the policies, systems and realities that threaten or withhold the good for some of our citizens.

A commitment to the common good is noble and necessary work, but promoting it is difficult, since people have different ideas of what “good” looks like.  Leaders and citizens need “safety zones” where they can explore difficult issues and imagine new futures.  Gracious Space can be that zone.  Without the graciousness in which to question and learn, we will likely conceive a more narrow interpretation of the common good.  Without a spirit of compassion and curiosity, we may lack the trust and the will to commit to the remainder of the journey.  In Gracious Space, we can join with others to search for shared solutions to society’s problems.

As part of the research and development of leadership development models and programs the Center named seven steps for leadership and action on behalf of the common good.  1) Create Gracious Space; 2) Gather diverse people; 3) Critique the status quo; 4) Advance systems thinking and transformational and transforming change; 5) Promote ethical leadership and knowledge of core values; 6) Foster integrity and moral courage; and 7) Recall hope.

Following is an overview of the other steps. This is an excerpt of the material which appears in the  new edition of the Center’s book, Gracious Space: A Practical Guide to Working Better Together.

Gather Diverse People Diverse people include those from a different gender, race, ethnicity, socio-economic status, religious affiliation and sexual orientation than our own.  Diversity can also be by neighborhood, experience and profession.  At first glance, Gracious Space could be misperceived as a vehicle for creating an emotionally antiseptic setting that seeks to avoid conflict.  In fact, Gracious Space is at its most powerful and useful when difference or conflict is present, such as when diverse people come together.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “Peace is not the absence of tension but the presence of justice.”  When we gather diverse people in Gracious Space, it is to establish justice, trusting that real peace is a byproduct of an authentically just climate.  In that gathering we may experience conflict.  The good news is that conflict, when held in Gracious Space, creates an enlightened experience of dissenting views which can yield powerful results for the good. The common good asks us to gather diverse people so we can wrestle with the injustices in our midst.

For instance, a diverse community might gather to address the racial disparities in achievement in K-12 education.  Instead of blaming individuals or certain racial groups, the community acknowledges that this is a shared problem, and must be addressed collectively to solve it.  Through the strength of their collective wisdom, voice and power, change for the common good is much more likely to occur.

Critique the Status Quo Once we have gathered diversity, leaders or citizens are obliged to critique the status quo. Offering critique should not be done lightly as it can unexpectedly and unnecessarily do harm.  Sometimes we criticize someone – a child, athlete, friend or staff member – to help them become their best, in which case critique is intended as a gift.  Other times we might criticize these people in order to do harm, feel right or superior, in which case our critique is more like a weapon.  Before we offer a critique we need to check our intentions.  If we are offering a gift, bring it; if we are brandishing a weapon, stow it.

A critique of the status quo is no different.  We must do so in a way that is effective and does not do more harm than good.  Simply complaining about the way things are is highly unlikely to advance the common good. Citizens and leaders need to ask: How and where is the system causing harm to others?  Knowledge of these harmful patterns must then be articulated in public.  Once an injustice is named, we can create a moral agenda for social change.  The common good asks us to do this challenging work with compassion – to speak the truth, in love, to power.

Advance Systems Thinking and Transformational & Transforming Change When we gather diverse people in Gracious Space and critique the status quo, we begin to see things we hadn’t seen before. A systems analysis aids us in understanding the complexity of the system we are seeking to change.

Systems thinking is “a discipline for seeing wholes, recognizing patterns and interrelationships, and learning how to structure those interrelationships in more effective, efficient ways.”  Admittedly, trying to understand anything as a whole is difficult.  Tackling something whole scale, such as how to transform a struggling school, can be a complicated and mind-boggling task.

A child’s education requires good schools, gifted and passionate teachers, and a child ready to learn.  Education also is dependent upon a home free from harm, with adult role models who support the child’s education through direct involvement.  If educational reform leaves out any of these factors, or those of class size, peer culture, class and racial equity and learning styles, reform will fall short.  Systems analysis therefore takes a commitment to examine the whole.

Two models of leadership offer effective strategies for change that align with the common good: transformational leadership and transforming leadership.

We define transformational leadership as “changing the status quo for the common good.”  This type of leadership questions “business as usual” and seeks to advance systemic change for the benefit of the least fortunate and the most vulnerable.  For example, in their transformational change efforts, civil rights leaders have changed bus ridership rules, school admission policies, and state and federal laws.  Other transformational leadership examples include recent no smoking policies in restaurants and other public spaces, Child Labor Laws, Maternity and Paternity Leave policies and affirmative action.

Transforming leadership has the same end goal – the common good – but a different focus.  The focal point of the transforming leader is not the status quo itself but the philosophical assumptions of the status quo.  It does not seek to transform systems and institutions, but rather the hearts, minds and spirit of those who created the systems in the first place, or who are currently stewards and users of them.

Transformational and transforming leaders are similar in their desire for justice and new visions for the common good, but they differ in substance and approach.  Transformational leaders seek to change systems and institutions through acts, laws and policies because these public tools create more accountability.  Transforming leaders intend to move a person to a differently principled view of life or a given situation, trusting that change is more lasting when it is written on someone’s heart rather than just on the books.  The common good requires both types of leadership.

Promote Ethical Leadership and Knowledge of Core Values Ethical leadership is the essential combination of transformational and transforming leadership.  Transformational leadership without a transforming strategy can lead to changes in the system but not the hearts, and the old problem is likely to simply resurrect in a new form.  Conversely, engaging in transforming leadership without a transformational change agenda can easily be reduced to great prose in search of reality.  What good are the most inspiring words if nothing actually changes for the good?  Transforming words ring hollow in the ears of those who suffer here and now.  The common good asks leaders for a two-fold commitment to change hearts and change systems, because then the possibility of moving towards the common good with sustainable results increases dramatically.

As ethical leaders seek the common good, they grow in their awareness of and commitment to their own core values.  Our core values can become our core identity, our core intentions and our core mission in life.  In a hectic world where we can easily forget who we are, why we are here and what we would like to do with our lives, our core values remind us of the deepest understanding of our life’s meaning and purpose.

Foster Integrity and Moral Courage As we integrate our values into our daily lives for the sake of the common good, we find ourselves in the territory of integrity and courage.  “Integrity” shares a Latin root with the word “integer.”  An integer is a whole number, not divided or fractionalized, and the word integrity points to the same wholeness.  Another definition of integrity comes from the textile industry.  If a garment is woven from one end to the other without a seam, then is the garment said to have integrity.

As we move more deeply into a life of integrity we will naturally call those around us, both individuals and institutions, to seek the same.  Integrity is infectious and one person’s commitment to integrity can move a whole institution or community to follow suit.

It also takes moral courage to gather diverse people, critique the status quo and advance change for the common good.  Courage is not fearlessness – rather it is an inner quality that enables us to move into the challenges of the common good in spite of our fears.

Courage is derived from the French word “coeur,” which means heart.  When a person commits to their passionate concerns for the world, that heartfelt commitment will help him or her move into courageous leadership.

Courage comes in different forms.  Physical courage is necessary to become an Olympic gymnast; psychological courage is necessary to fly solo in an airplane.  Yet, the form of courage most essential for leaders who aspire to advance the common good is moral courage.  Moral courage is the willingness and ability to align our actions with the call of our values and the demands of conscience.  Moral courage is a willingness to do the right thing when the wrong thing is easier and less costly. 

It takes courage to create Gracious Space, gather diverse people, critique the status quo, advance systems thinking and transformational and transforming change, and promote ethical leadership and values-oriented behavior.  Courage infuses these leadership activities with the decisive actions necessary to advance the common good.

Recall Hope. A leader’s responsibility doesn’t end with simply pointing out what needs to be changed.  Leaders need to point towards hope that change can and will occur.  Hope is the final step of the Seven Steps to the Common Good, because hope can be the force that makes or breaks a change effort.  Leaders must find hope within themselves and inspire others to find hope.

Asking a person to inspire hope is a lot like asking them to create fire.  It can be done, but only with the right ingredients.  To make fire, the right ingredients would be fuel, oxygen and a source of ignition.  The three ingredients for hope are conviction, love and a transcendent vision.

Conviction tells us to commit to the common good even if our efforts appear fruitless or foolish.  Conviction encourages the leader to continue to labor for the good trusting that hope – and change – will arrive. Conviction kept Nelson Mandela’s hope alive while he endured nearly 28 years of imprisonment on Robben Island.  His conviction for a just South Africa led him to the day when, against all odds, he was freed and elected President of his country.

Love is the second ingredient of inspiring hope.  When we listen to our hearts, we remember who and what we love, and that we are loved.  A leader’s love for those who are disenfranchised and for the possibility of a brighter future can keep them hopeful and moving forward even in the darkest days.

The third ingredient of hope is a transcendent vision.  Hope is not bound by present realities, rather, hope transcends present reality and grants a view of the future that neither rhyme nor reason can support.  As Joan Chittister so eloquently says:

“When tragedy strikes, when trouble comes, when life disappoints us, we stand at the crossroads between hope and despair, torn and hurting.  Despair cements us in the present; hope sends us dancing around dark corners trusting in a tomorrow we cannot see.”

Gracious Space and the Common Good These Seven Steps help leaders find their way to the common good.  They serve as a pathway for leaders who find themselves in unfamiliar and unstable territory, and can provide a sense of what to expect and what is most needed in the midst of ambiguity or volatility.

When leaders find themselves in difficulty they can help themselves and others by creating Gracious Space, grounding themselves in their values, and recalling the promise of hope.  When leaders find themselves capitulating to an unjust status quo they can fix their courage, and remember that leadership asks them to critique the status quo and advance systems thinking and change even when it is difficult.

It is our belief that the most powerful place to begin the work of leadership for the common good is with the creation of Gracious Space.  Gracious Space serves as the container in which the rest of the seven steps can be practiced.  Leadership often involves risk, and Gracious Space creates a setting in which leaders access the strength and support to risk leading on behalf of a better future.

Gracious Space also creates a setting where those being led are more likely to constructively engage the leader’s actions and pursue the common good together. Gracious Space shifts the public space and the space in people’s hearts and minds to create room for collective innovation and transformation.

Finally, Gracious Space transforms the pursuit of the common good into an experience of the common good itself.  A friend of the Center once said, “You can’t get to a good place in a bad way.”  This means that Gracious Space and the common good become one and the same. How we get there (the means) and the common good we envision (the ends) must be in alignment.  When diverse people come together, welcome new ideas and perspectives, and ask questions that have the power to transform the good for all, the common good is made manifest.

As people sample a taste of the common good by working within Gracious Space, they become ready to transform the unjust systems and structures into new expressions of the common good.  In this way, Gracious Space itself works as a harbinger of change and motivates people to manifest the common good in the realms where they live.

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