The World Cafe: Shaping Our Futures Through Conversations That Matter (UK PROFESSIONAL BUSINESS Management / Business) - Softcover

Juanita Brown, Ph.D; David Isaacs; The World Cafe Community

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1576752585 ISBN 13: 9781576752586

Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2005

Synopsis

The World Café process has been used by tens of thousands of people around the world to tackle real-life issues. Based on seven key principles, it begins with small, intimate conversations at Café -style tables; these gatherings then link and build on each other as people move between groups and cross-pollinate ideas. In this way, Café learning enables even very large groups to think together creatively in a single, connected conversation. This complete resource explains the Café concept and provides readers with the tools they need to get started. Each chapter opens with stories from business, education, government, and community organizations, each a dramatic example of how leaders are using this process in the real world. Such stories underline the Café 's immediate, practical implications for meeting and conference design, strategy formation, knowledge creation, and large-scale systems change. The book includes a foreword by best-selling author Margaret J. Wheatley, an afterword by author Peter Senge, and real-world stories of the Café process in action at Hewlett-Packard, the nation of Singapore, and the University of Texas.

About this title

Review

"After all these years, I can still remember my first World Café! Our success with the "Commons Café" would not have been possible without this groundbreaking work."
--Sharif Abdullah, founder, the Commonway Institute, and author of Creating a World that Works for All

"World Café conversations are one of the best ways I know to truly enhance knowledge sharing and tap into collective intelligence. The few simple principles in this book can lead to conscious conversations with the power to change not only the individuals who participate, but also our collective future."
--Verna Allee, author of The Knowledge Evolution and The Future of Knowledge

"The wisdom of many voices speaks from these pages! May we take seriously their invitation to call forth what has heart and meaning in our world through conversations that matter."
--Tom Atlee, founder, The Co-Intelligence Institute, and author of The Tao of Democracy

"The capacity to see the world of the "other" sounds simple, but it is not. Yet it is the core of creating a new human history together. The World Café and this book serve as an inspiration to help make that possible."
--Lic. Esteban Moctezuma Barragan, Mexico's former Minister of Social Development

"The prevailing wisdom is that talk is cheap and that it's a poor, timid substitute for action. This warm and inviting book demonstrates that conversation is action, because it is the wellspring from which relationships and trust are generated and informed decisions grow."
--Thomas F. Beech, President and CEO, Fetzer Institute

"The challenge of leadership in these times of breathtaking speed and exhausting complexity is to find creative ways to embrace the future, and let go of the past. World Café dialogue provide us the opportunity to do just that."
--Paul Borawski, Executive Director and Chief Strategic Officer, American Society for Quality

"Understanding the World Café's fascinating model of a living social system is essential for the understanding of life and leadership in human organizations."
--Fritjof Capra, author of The Web of Life and The Hidden Connections

"The World Café couldn't be more timely. It offers inspiration and practical guidance to those who want to convene groups--even very large groups--for conversations that stimulate hope, creativity, and collective commitment."
--Laura Chasin, founder and Director, Public Conversations Project

"This book and the stories in it offer hope for addressing complex challenges and provide methods for strengthening family and community relationships. It is truly a work of art and a very important contribution."
--Rita Cleary, co-founder, Visions of a Better World Foundation

"World Café conversations touch the heart of what "human being" or "being human" means. By cherishing and including diverse voices, this book models the very nature of collective knowledge that is the heart of the World Café approach to dialogue."
--Sara Cobb, Director, Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, George Mason University, and former Executive Director, Program on Negotiation, Harvard Law School

Synopsis

"The World Cafe" is an easy-to-use process for fostering collaborative dialogue and creating innovative possibilities for action particularly in large groups. Anyone interested in creating "conversations that matter" can engage the World Cafe approach, with its' seven simple design principles, to improve people's collective capacity to share knowledge and shape the future together. Using the World Cafe process and principles empowers leaders and other professionals to intentionally create dynamic networks of conversation around an organization or community's real work and critical questions, improving both personal relationships and collective performance.Part of "Berrett-Koehler's" series of books on the most popular, participative, engaging methods of changing communities and organizations, this title introduces readers to, the World Cafe, a simple, yet powerful process for catalyzing and leading catalytic conversations that has been used by tens of thousands of people around the world to tackle real life issues and questions.

It includes real-world stories - from widely varied geographical, cultural, business, government, non-profit, community and educational settings, including Hewlett-Packard, Saudi Aramco, the nation of Singapore, the University of Texas and many others - show how the Cafe process produces business and social value.It breaks new ground in offering an almost infinitely scalable design for creating constructive dialogue both in very large groups and with people who have not had prior dialogue training. It clearly articulates seven key design principles that, when used in combination, create the conditions for breakthrough thinking. It includes a foreword by Margaret J.Wheatley, author of the bestselling "Leadership and the New Science", "A Simpler Way", and "Turning to One Another"; and an afterword by Peter Senge, author of "The Fifth Discipline".

Edition details

• Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 1576752585
• ISBN 13: 9781576752586
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 300