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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's 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.
Juanita Brown, Ph.D., with her partner,
David Isaacs, is a co-originator of the World Cafe. She
collaborates as a thinking partner and design advisor with
senior leaders, creating and hosting innovative forums for
strategic dialogue on critical organizational and societal
issues. Juanita's keynotes and seminars have attracted a
broad range of leaders across sectors, including Fortune
100 companies and members of government, health, education,
and community-based organizations in the United States,
Latin America, Europe, and the Pacific Rim. As a Senior
Affiliate with the MIT Sloan School's Organizational Learning
Center (now the Society for Organizational Learning), Juanita
participated as a member of the core research team with
the MIT Dialogue Project and as co-faculty for SoL's Executive
Champions' Program. She has served as a Research Affiliate
with the Institute for the Future and is a Fellow of the
World Business Academy.
David Isaacs is the president of Clearing
Communications, an organizational and communications strategy
company working with senior executives in the United States
and abroad. He has collaborated with a wide range of corporate
clients, including Alpha-Graphics, Hewlett-Packard, Intel,
Kraft General Foods, Scandinavian Airlines Systems, and
Sanofi-Aventis. David's not-for-profit work has included
hosting World Cafe dialogues with the Institute for Noetic
Sciences, Shambhala Institute, Society for Organizational
Learning, and Alliance for Transforming the Lives of Children.
David has served as adjunct faculty at the California Institute
for Integral Studies, St. Mary's College of California,
and the University of Texas at San Antonio Business School's
executive MBA program.
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