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.FOREWORD We Can Be Wise Only Together, by Margaret J. Wheatley INTRODUCTION Beginning the Conversation: An Invitation to the World Café Chapter One Seeing the Invisible: Conversation Matters! Chapter Two Conversation as a Core Process: Co-Creating Business and Social Value Chapter Three Principle 1: Set the Context Chapter Four Principle 2: Create Hospitable Space Chapter Five Principle 3: Explore Questions That Matter Chapter Six Principle 4: Encourage Everyone’s Contribution Chapter Seven Principle 5: Cross-Pollinate and Connect Diverse Perspectives Chapter Eight Principle 6: Listen Together for Patterns, Insights, and Deeper Questions Chapter Nine Principle 7: Harvest and Share Collective Discoveries Chapter Ten Guiding the Café Process: The Art of Hosting Chapter Eleven Conversational Leadership: Cultivating Collective Intelligence Chapter Twelve The Call of Our TimelÓ¸