This is a practitioner story. Over a decade ago, we responded in Houston to Katrina by welcoming over 200,000 neighbors to Houston. Since that time I have been on a quest to understand the very best of practical, regionally based responses to displaced people. Because everywhere --- there are people arriving in cities holding aspirations to earn, learn and belong.

Learn a ground-breaking appreciative approach to transforming organizations, communities and cities based on what’s working and what’s strong. I’ll show how to begin the transformation with a new set of questions: What are we like when we are at our best? What gives energy and life to our work? What makes it feel like home? What are our core strengths and how do we employ them to tackle our toughest challenges?

Welcoming newcomers is a creative process. A constant flow of people to our cities requires us to be swift, creative and grounded in our approaches. To be effective, we must keep our service goals simple and based upon the aspirations of arriving groups of people. We must focus on the universal aspirations--to earn, learn and belong.

As new information and ideas rush toward us, challenging old systems and accepted ways of working, how do we lead best in this time of rapid learning and accelerated change? Evolutionary or “Figure it Out” leadership principles will help leaders know where to use their time and energy, guide their use of resources so they are moving toward what’s new and next.