Diesel, A Bookstore in Oakland is pleased to welcome back local author Alan Briskin as he discusses and signs his new book, The Power of Collective Wisdom: And the Trap of Collective Folly, on Thursday, October 29th, at 7 p.m.

Alan Briskin is author of the award-winning book The Stirring of Soul in the Workplace and coauthor of Daily Miracles, which earned the American Journal of Nursing’s Book of the Year award in the category of Public Interest and Creative Works. He is coauthor of Bringing Your Soul to Work: An Everyday Practice. Alan is a pioneer in the field of organizational learning and cofounder of the Collective Wisdom Initiative.

His work with groups and collectives extends back to the early 1970s, when he was part of an international community in Israel founded on the principles of the communal kibbutz. As an educator, he contributed to the design of schools based on experiential learning and was the director of education for the Vermont group home that became the model for deinstitutionalization of confined youth. His interest in alternative educational settings continued for over ten years when he was the principal consultant to the George Lucas Educational Foundation.

As a health care consultant, he was a founding member of the Relationship Centered Care Network and developed programs at Kaiser Permanente for practicing physicians to deepen their communication skills with patients. He has continued for the past twenty years as a coach and mentor for physician and nurse leaders as well as an organizational consultant to executive teams, businesses, and nonprofit organizations. He serves as an adjunct faculty member at Saybrook Graduate School, where he helped design its doctoral program in organizational systems.

In corporate and conference settings, Alan has given keynotes and conducted workshops on collective wisdom throughout the United States, as well as in Canada, England, and South Africa. He has a doctorate in organizational behavior from the Wright Institute in Berkeley, California, and is a professional associate of the Grubb Institute in London. Alan lives in Oakland, California.

The Power of Collective Wisdom: And the Trap of Collective Folly (Paperback)

By Alan Briskin, Sheryl Erickson, John Ott

$17.95

ISBN-13: 9781576754450
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 10/01/2009

---

Bringing Your Soul to Work: An Everyday Practice (Paperback)

By Alan Briskin, Cheryl Peppers

$16.95

ISBN-13: 9781576751114
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 08/01/2000

People have begun to expect more from their jobs than Dilbertesque monotony. Bringing Your Soul to Work links ideas about the soul directly to the realities of the workplace, offering a path for growth and positive change in sync with the job a person already has. The authors explore ways to connect the true self with the demands and sacrifices required by a career and offer insight on maintaining inner faith in the face of tensions, contradictions, and cynicism. Readers are invited to investigate the darker aspects of their personality for a greater understanding of the vast richness of their interior world. Both inspirational and practical, this book is for anyone seeking to bridge their spiritual values with work, willing to explore unknown elements of their personality, and interested in discovering new perspectives.

---

The Stirring of Soul in the Workplace (Paperback)

By Alan Briskin

$16.95

ISBN-13: 9781576750407
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 01/01/1998

Essential reading for those who'd like to find more meaning in their jobs, The Stirring of Soul in the Workplace offers ways to balance a personal spiritual path with job realities and expectations.

---