My family and I are finally starting to figure out our mask protocols. One basket has the clean masks, another one has the dirty ones. We wash the dirty ones a couple times per week. Each of us has our preferred mask for when we’re going to be talking to somebody. My wife has to […]
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 […]
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 […]
Pope Francis is inviting leaders everywhere to embrace more regenerative economic praxis. My reflections on what I’ve started doing and what’s next.
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 […]
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. […]
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 […]