Early Morning Meeting

August 28, 2009 · Posted in Leadership, Martha's Vineyard · 7 Comments

My wife and daughter and I recently had the great good fortune to attend an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. The occasion was the one-year sobriety celebration of a close friend. We were invited to witness her achievement. This wasn’t just a celebration; it was a regular AA meeting. There were 35 people there, many of whom we knew (this is a very small place) and all of them no longer anonymous to us (as a friend says, in a small community like this there is no AA, just A). How brave, and generous, for them to welcome us and allow us to share their meeting.

I’ve always wanted to witness first hand the workings and organizational structure of this remarkably effective and superbly networked (without – even – the need of the internet!) institution. The amazing part – it has no leaders!

Tags: <democracy, Leadership, Martha's Vineyard>

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JOHN ABRAMS is co-founder and CEO
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Reading List
- THE WATCHMAN'S RATTLE: Thinking our Way out of Extinction by Rebecca Costa | Sociobiologist Costa explores the capacity of the human brain, and how we can use ours to solve our greatest problems.
- THE GREAT DISRUPTION by Paul Gilding | The former director of Greenpeace and long-time corporate sustainability consultant takes us on a journey to the future of our economy
- EAARTH: MAKING A LIFE ON A TOUGH NEW PLANET by Bill McKibben. For McKibben, climate change is not about the future – we’ve already changed the planet irrevocably. Now, as we try to minimize the damage, we have to learn how to live in this new place.
- WHAT I WISH I KNEW WHEN I WAS 20 by Tina Seelig | The subtitle is A Crash Course on Making Your Place in the World – it’s about innovation, radical collaboration and harnessing the unexpected.
- PLAN B 4.0 by Lester Brown | For over 30 years Lester Brown has been keeping us abreast of the State of the World, environmentally. His latest, Plan B 4.0, is a road map to real climate change solutions
- THE REAL WORLD OF EMPLOYEE OWNERSHIP by John Logue and Jacquelyn Yates | The best primer on employee ownership, this useful book comes from the Ohio Employee Ownership Center, which has actively and successfully helped Ohio companies for decades
- WHOLE EARTH DISCIPLINE: An Ecopragmatist Manifesto By Stewart Brand | One of the most provocative thinkers of our times makes a powerful myth-shattering call to arms to save the planet. This book changed the way I think about topics I’ve thought about for a long time.
- THE MYTH OF PROGRESS: Toward a Sustainable Future by Tom Wessels | In this beautifully written small volume the author makes a compelling statement about why perpetual growth is not – and can’t be – the answer to our economic struggles.
- COME HOME AMERICA: The Rise and Fall (and Redeeming Promise) of our Country by William Greider | The noted author and National Affairs Correspondent for the Nation helps us understand the profound challenges and opportunities of the great transitions to come.
- BORN TO RUN by Christopher McDougall | An epic adventure about the reclusive Tarahumara Indians in Mexico which, through remarkable characters and stories, becomes a journey about values, community, and human evolution.
- DOWN TO THE WIRE: Confronting Climate Collapse By David Orr | Another eloquent – and troubling – call to action for the planet. Orr combines science, history, and public policy to make a compelling case that effective political leadership is the essential missing ingredient standing in our way.
- CHANGE BY DESIGN by Tim Brown | The CEO of the legendary design firm IDEO proposed that Design Thinking – the idea that every problem is a design problem – wil need to become a part of every successful organization.