Owning Our Future: The Emerging Ownership Revolution

This is a groundbreaking book, as one of a number of great books. This one stands out for its combining of conceptual innovations with examples. Others here have noted many of the groundbreaking elements in this book. Marjorie Kelly has taken a step beyond her previous book The Divine Right of Capital to begin a process to identify various conceptual elements that make the difference between destructive enterprises and life-sustaining ones. She does it in a brilliant way that intertwines her folk storytelling of her own adventure which reminds me of Annie Dillard, the examples, and the theoretical considerations. William Greider's fantastic book The Soul of Capitalism spurred me into shifting the focus of my activist thought to the importance of alternative business models. Myself, I was a working member at a Food Co-op in New York at the time. I can't help but notice some important stylistic similarities between Kelly's new book and Greider's 2003 work, but only as a compliment. Moreover, Greider's book was itself inspired by Kelly's first one, I have since discovered rereading his preface in Divine Right of Capital. To Kelly's further credit on one detail, Greider never mentions the historical origins of the employee ownership model in his book, and keeps his focus on the 20th Century innovations by Louis Kelso and Senator Russell Long, and the penetrating insights of David Ellerman and Herman Daly. Kelly refers to the latter two also, but gives a sharp if fleeting mention of the co-ops pioneering accomplishment as a model and practice in history. However, she gives no bibliographical reference. I can only think she is wary of some kind of a reactionary witch hunt to explain this omission. Johnston Birchall's major 1990s work on co-operatives is a good reference to get a look at the history. An article I wrote on Fair Trade and available on line at the university journal Anamesa called The Real Price of Coffee gives a range of references in this area, some thanks to Kelly's first work. I really like Kelly's theoretical umbrella around purpose and design, including catagories like Living Purpose, Rooted Membership, and Generative Ownership. She provides an unhurried and usually clear narrative as she introduces crisis and alternatives, ideas and examples. In the occasional moment where she loses clarity, it is not so difficult to regain your place in the network of ideas and examples Her ideas about design are brilliant, and remind me of William McDonagh's cradle to cradle ideas about green industry. The book is an excellent blend of density and light, with ample material to probe further into the subject. Nevertheless, she only mentions Greider by name, but without any reference to his very unsung work cited above. She does mention Gar Alperovitz's work America Beyond Capitalism. She also makes reference to the Solidarity Economics movement, but while noting its origins and prevalence outside the US, fails to note the progress in the US such as the 2009 SE Conference, following the two US events of the World Social Forum. This is the kind of book I thought David Korten would write in The Great Turning, but didn't. That he does recognize this approach is clear from his introduction,and an especially nice touch I'd say since he did found Yes Magazine along with his books. Dive into this book! I heartily recommend it, since here we have a new conceptual articulation of individuals in co-operation and possibilities for grassroots sustainable development.

As someone who has worked (successfully) nearly 20 years in the extractive economy I found this book inspiring. This work points the way to alternative and creative solutions, grounded in logic evidence for how the world (and not just the economy) works, to our current self-imposed ills. I have been deeply frustrated with the current corporate condition despite benefiting personally from it for some time. I could not clearly articulate, prior to reading this book, exactly why. Now I am able to name the thing that has frustrated me. And with that knowledge comes the freedom, motive, and energy to be part of the solution. To the author: Thank you.

beautifully written and informative

The future has emerged and M. Kelly has shown us why and why it matters. After you read this, it will be up to you to change and be your thought-provoking consciousness.

It was like going through a college class but without the nonsensical academic abstractions. Herein we can find the patterns, the guideposts,, that lead us along the way to understanding a new economy, a generative one. Insights into company operations old and new, big and small are looked at through the eyes of the author that has been researching this topic for years. Her journalism background is well-leveraged as she digs deeper behind what may appear to be working. This book is fantastic for ALL readers as it talks about how to build a new community, a new economy that provides the true wealth of happiness, community, well-being and sustainability. I can't recommend it highly enough.

Really inspiring but also well grounded. A fine balance of aspiration with pragmatism. A worth reading for those interested in sustainability and alternative solutions for our common future.

Marjorie Kelly is a wonderful guide to a new way of investing in our future. Through this book, she introduces principles for generative ownership, based on a living purpose that goes beyond an obsession with short-term profits and considers a broader range of human needs, including meaningful membership in a community that enables businesses to contribute to the lives of people in the community. A great read for groups rethinking community investments. This can easily be applied to Transition Town members contemplating how to restructure community businesses.

There are some fascinating ideas in this book about prevailing attitudes toward ownership and capital and how these lead to decisions where people are left in the cold, local economies are tanked, and the environment suffers (human enjoyment and dependence on the natural world and resources). She's proposing a somewhat radical shift in views of ownership, based in a more holistic paradigm I can relate to, which seeks to abolish the distinction between 'human' and 'nature' and instead see us as living beings within a living being, and ask what kind of economy can support that reality. She loads this with reference to examples where it's already occurring with great success in different types of organizations. I like the real world examples, and she paints a fairly convincing and somewhat realistic picture of the current state of publicly traded companies, Wall Street and the financialization of well... everything owned. My only complaint is that some of the argumentation of the 'other' and what must happen is distracting from the great ideas. I wish we weren't reliant on logical connections sometimes as it forces us to fit great ideas into preconceived notions of what must be proven within reason in order to proceed with the great ideas. That sounds vague, but I was actually worried by some of the 'truth' claims being tied to 'nature'. That sort of talk leads all sorts of bad places. I'd rather it focus on the empirical results of thinking differently rather than the metaphysical connections to 'the way we are'. Overall fantastic. I'd highly recommend to anyone who is trying to think differently about their own life, and about the health of their communities and cultures. It would be really interesting for mayors, city leaders, land developers and company owners. I think there are some publicly traded companies out there that would find the concepts, ideas and models to be really gripping and maybe informative.

This book is a little formulaic in its structure but it tackles one of the most important topics today: can businesses serve people rather than the other way round? The examples chosen are sympathetic and enlightening and the destruction of value and people by financialisation are also well drawn. If you want a deeper, more theoretical treatment, try Colin Mayer: Firm Commitment.

Its where we are headed...Arni (architect)