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The Good Ancestor by Roman Krznaric

“Be a good ancestor” – What does this mean to you?  For me, it’s about trying to leave the world a bit better than I found it, both through how I live and the work that I do. That’s hard to do as an individual, of course. How we live, and work, and play in the world is bound up in deeply ingrained systems and worldviews. I think refocusing our mindset can help us see possibilities and opportunities that we can act on.

Roman Krznaric’s book The Good Ancestor: How to Think Long Term in a Short-Term World has a bold purpose:

“It is virtually impossible to escape the conclusion that if we want to create a world fit for both current and future generations, we will need to profoundly rethink and redesign core aspects of society – how our economies function, how our politics works, what our cities look like – and ensure they are underpinned by new values and goals to secure the long-term thriving of humankind. And we have precious little time in which to do it.”

I think this book would make an excellent focus for a book club of friends, community members, or colleagues. It is a thoughtful read, and some may find it dense and challenging as well. Here is a process you can use to take a group through the book in a way that is focused on sharing the leadership and learning. This process is best suited for a group of 6-12 people and can be done in-person or virtually. It could run over four meetings (for each “Part” of the book plus the final chapter) or twelve meetings, one for each chapter.

Part One: The Tug of War for Time

  • Read the two chapters and then gather to discuss.
  • What was the most interesting or inspiring idea in Part One?
  • What was the most challenging idea in Part One?
  • What does it mean to you to be a good ancestor?

Part Two: Six Ways to Think Long

There are six chapters in this section, one on each of Krznaric’s “6 Ways to Think Long”. Ask each person in the group to choose one chapter to focus on. This could mean that everyone reads all the chapters and each group member leads the discussion for one chapter. Or it could mean that each person reads only one chapter and is prepared to summarize it for the group. Depending on the size of your group, there may be one or more people assigned to each chapter.

 

For the discussion, post the diagrams on page 12 and 242 where everyone can see them or ensure everyone has a copy. The page 12 diagram has brief definitions that will help with summarizing or reviewing each chapter topic. The page 242 diagram has a discussion question for each topic. For each chapter, ask the person or smaller group who read it to share a brief summary of the topic. Discuss the question Krznaric has posed for that chapter’s topic.

Part Three: Bring on the Time Rebellion

There are three main chapters in this section, on the realms of politics, economics, and culture. Again, ask group members to choose one chapter as their focus. With fewer topics, these small groups will be a bit larger. For their chapter, one small group member could share a short summary of the topic and others could share an action or person from the chapter that inspired them.

What kinds of changes have already happened in your lifetime? What changes did your parents and grandparents experience? What do you think helps change happen?

The Path of the Good Ancestor

  • Ask everyone to read the final chapter and to share their thoughts.
  • What is one way that your thinking has changed over the course of interacting with the ideas in this book?
  • What is one idea you most want to share with others or hope happens in your lifetime?
  • Return to the question discussed at the first meeting: What does it mean to you to be a good ancestor?
  • What is one action that you will take on the path to being a good ancestor?