The World Café

The World Café

by Juanita Brown, David Isaacs, World Cafe Community
Released June 2005
Publisher(s): Berrett-Koehler Publishers
ISBN: 9781605092515

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Book description

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.

Table of contents

  1. Cover Page
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright Page
  4. Dedication
  5. Foreword: We Can Be Wise Only Together
  6. Introduction: Beginning the Conversation: An Invitation to the World Café
  7. Chapter One: Seeing the Invisible: Conversation Matters!
    1. Discovering the World Café: The Intellectual Capital Pioneers
    2. Perspectives and Observations
    3. Questions for Reflection
  8. Chapter Two: Conversation as a Core Process: Co-Creating Business and Social Value
    1. Creating a Culture of Dialogue: Museum of Science and Industry, Tampa Bay
    2. It's Win-Win All the Way: Sanofi-Synthelabo, Canada
    3. Perspectives and Observations
    4. Questions for Reflection
  9. Chapter Three: Principle 1: Set the Context
    1. De Congreso a Conversació2n (From Conference to Conversation): Mexico's National Fund for Social Enterprise
    2. Perspectives and Observations
    3. Questions for Reflection
  10. Chapter Four: Principle 2: Create Hospitable Space
    1. A System Thinking Together: The Pegasus Systems Thinking in Action Conference
    2. Perspectives and Observations
    3. Building on Traditions of Dialogue: Saudi Aramco
    4. Questions for Reflection
  11. Chapter Five: Principle 3: Explore Questions That Matter
    1. A Café on Questions
    2. Perspectives and Observations
    3. Questions for Reflection
  12. Chapter Six: Principle 4: Encourage Everyone’s Contribution
    1. Every Voice Counts: Fostering a Culture of Contribution: The Financial Planning Association
    2. Perspectives and Observations
    3. Questions for Reflection
  13. Chapter Seven: Principle 5: Cross-Pollinate and Connect Diverse Perspectives
    1. The Peace Café: University of Victoria Law School
    2. Perspectives and Observations
    3. Suddenly, It Crystallized: The Fielding Graduate Institute
    4. Questions for Reflection
  14. Chapter Eight: Principle 6: Listen Together for Patterns, Insights, and Deeper Questions
    1. What’s in the Middle of the Table? Scandinavian Sustainability Forum
    2. Perspectives and Observations
    3. Questions for Reflection
  15. Chapter Nine: Principle 7: Harvest and Share Collective Discoveries
    1. Harvesting and Planting Seeds of Change: University of Texas at San Antonio, Executive MBA Program
    2. Perspectives and Observations
    3. Connecting the Parts and the Whole: The Financial Planning Association
    4. Questions for Reflection
  16. Chapter Ten: Guiding the Café Process: The Art of Hosting
    1. Working on Behalf of Their Sisters: African Women with Disabilities
    2. Perspectives and Observations
    3. The World Café Hosting Guide
    4. Questions for Reflection
  17. Chapter Eleven: Conversational Leadership: Cultivating Collective Intelligence
    1. Fostering Conversational Leadership in Education: Polk County Schools
    2. The Results Are in the Relationships: Hewlett-Packard
    3. Living Strategy: Discovering the Future, Together: American Society for Quality
    4. Perspectives and Observations
    5. Designing Organizational Infrastructures for Dialogue: Philip Morris USA
    6. Questions for Reflection
  18. Chapter Twelve: The Call of Our Times: Creating a Culture of Dialogue
    1. What Does It Mean to Care? Creating a Learning Culture Through Dialogue: Singapore
    2. Perspectives and Observations
    3. Questions for Reflection
  19. Epilogue: How Can We Talk It Through? by Anne W. Dosher
  20. Afterword: Discovering the Magic of Collective Creativity by Peter M. Senge
  21. Acknowledgments: It Takes a Village to Raise a Child
  22. Illustration Credits: The World Café
  23. Resources And Connections: Related Resources
  24. Bibliography
  25. About The Authors

Product information

  • Title: The World Café
  • Author(s): Juanita Brown, David Isaacs, World Cafe Community
  • Release date: June 2005
  • Publisher(s): Berrett-Koehler Publishers
  • ISBN: 9781605092515