The World Cafe: Shaping Our Futures Through Conversations That Matter

Published by  Berrett-Koehler, 2005, softcover, large format, illustrated, index, 242 pages, condition: new.

The World Cafe is a flexible, easy-to-use process for fostering collaborative dialogue, sharing mutual knowledge, and discovering new opportunities for action. Based on living systems thinking, this innovative approach creates dynamic networks of conversation that can catalyze an organization or community's own collective intelligence around its most important questions.
Filled with stories of actual Cafe dialogues in business, education, government, and community organizations across the globe, this uniquely crafted book demonstrates how the World Cafe can be adapted to any setting or culture. Examples from such varied organizations as Hewlett-Packard, American Society for Quality, the nation of Singapore, the University of Texas, and many others, demonstrate the process in action.
Along with its seven core design principles, The World Cafe offers practical tips for hosting "conversations that matter" in groups of any size- strengthening both personal relationships and people's capacity to shape the future together.

A wonderful book which details possibilities of the power of conversation , if only people are allowed to have the conversations that matter. The authors have taken the time to detail out the exact steps required to run a cafe conversation. The 7 principles provide great insights not just about the process, but I find that I discovered something about myself too.

This book will be frequently referred to, as long as possible.