Category: cpa
Why draw maps?
I’ve been awakening to the power of visuals to help teams with decision-making. Too often, we don’t have a common mental model and end up talking past each other. This is where I’ve found myself inside my own organization more often than I’d like to admit recently. Today, Max Harper came to our Shared Ownership workshop and […]
Have you been thinking about masks?
If you’ve been thinking about how to buy masks, disinfectant supplies, PPE… Perhaps our co-op effort to find suppliers that can deliver may be of help… Curious how others are thinking through re-opening and estimating PPE supply needs? Curious what co-op pricing looks like for masks? Or “no contact” thermometers? (coop price: $50… vs $85) Worried about making […]
Fishing with Francis: 142 and …
A Few Essential Ingredients for a Purchasing Cooperative
Composting & Buying “Compostable” Paper Goods in Durham, NC A local environmental leader, Crystal Dreisbach, Founder and Executive Director of Don’t Waste Durham, invited me to join her and two local restaurant and food truck owners to imagine how we could help them purchase biodegradable plates, cups, and carry-out containers as a co-op. The basic […]
Trust and Co-ops
Five years ago, I started the Community Purchasing Alliance Cooperative with a Steering Team of church leaders, a community organizer, and a few generous lawyers. Today, we are 75 member-owner community institutions. We collaborate on $15,000,000+ in contracts each year. Yet the most important thing we’ve created doesn’t show up in the numbers. It’s trust. […]
Innovative Companies Change their Customers: My CPA Co-op Experience
Michael Schrage’s insight about how innovative companies change their customers has stuck with me. And it’s changed the way I understand the work my organization does. Successful innovations go beyond the quid pro quo; they’re targeted investments in the customer’s future value. Most customers believe that “the market” sets the terms of engagement for service […]