8th Annual Berrett-Koehler Author Co-Op Retreat

I recently had the privilege to attend the 8th Annual Berrett-Koehler Author Co-Op Retreat. Berrett-Koehler is a unique publisher. Their ambitious mission is to "Create a World That Works For All." Steve Piersanti who has led BK since its inception and now everyone in the company lives what their books are all about.

From their website:

We strive to practice what we preach--to operate our publishing company in line with the ideas in our books. At the core of our approach is stewardship, which we define as a deep sense of responsibility to administer the company for the benefit of all of our "stakeholder" groups: authors, customers, employees, investors, service providers, and the communities and environment around us.

We are grateful to the thousands of readers, authors, and other friends of the company who consider themselves to be part of the "BK Community." We hope that you, too, will join us in our mission.

This year's Author Retreat was held in Santa Fe, a beautiful place for reflection and learning. Our theme for this year was about "Creating Community." Given the recent debates, tone and tenor of the Presidential campaigns, community is what I believe we could all use more of these days. Our author community has published a wide variety of books in three broad arenas:

Business: Pioneering socially responsible, effective approaches to leading and managing organizations.

Currents: Advancing social and economic justice, sustainable development, and positive change at national and global levels.

Life: Helping people create positive individual change and align their lives with their aspirations for a better world.

The thread that ties all of our work together is that at some level, BK's mission is our mission: To create a world that works for all.

Some friends that were able to attend this year's Retreat whose work I admire and believe you will find compelling and meaningful include Dick and Emily Axelrod who have focused their life work on engagement, Alan Briskin whose depth of thinking and reflection is matched only by his incredible sense of timing and humor, David Isaacs and Juanita Brown who are creators of The World Cafe, Dennis and Michelle Reina who have taken their work on organizational trust to a practical and easily understandable level. The list of these terrific people and writers can go on and on: Noah Blumenthal who has been named one of the Top 100 Minds in Personal Development; Marilee Adams who has founded the Inquiry Institute focused on the power of questions in sorting through life's many challenges; Ira Chaleff who works equally adeptly with leaders in the halls Congress and governments worldwide and CEO's in large and complex organizations, and, Bill Treasurer, a man who has translated his own ability to light himself on fire and dive 50 feet into a pool of water (is that enough to pique your curiosity to check his web site out???) into two books about the role courage plays in our lives and work.

These and the other authors attending the Retreat are great people, change leaders and authors. At this time in our country's story, they are all voices for creating community. Something needed now more than ever.