Bestselling author Margaret Wheatley and long-time Berkana Institute collaborator Deborah Frieze take readers on a learning journey into seven diverse communities that have walked out of limiting beliefs and practices and walked on to something new. From Brazil to Ohio, they demonstrate how each of these communities made a conscious choice to develop a healthier, more resilient world based on the idea to “create with what we have.”

At a time when most communities’ resources are stretched past the breaking point, how is it possible to deal with the enormous challenges that families, neighborhoods, cities, regions, and nations face today? This inspiring book takes readers to seven communities around the world where the people have walked out of limiting beliefs and practices that precluded solutions to major social problems, and walked on to discover bold new ways to meet their needs.This book is a true learning journey, filled with intimate stories and portraits of the people and places the authors came to know through years of working together to transform their communities. The journey begins in Mexico, then moves to Brazil, South Africa, Zimbabwe, India, Greece and the U.S. The authors’ lives and ways of thinking have been transformed by these experiences and relationships – an experience they hope to recreate for the reader through vivid prose and photos. The reader will experience first hand how a change of beliefs about people results in new capacities and the possibility of a more healthy future.

Part 1: The JourneyWhy the world needs us to walk out and walk onWho we arePart II: Preparing for the JourneySetting your intentionsPreparing to be disturbedNoticing the world we're inPart III: The JourneyEight communities that have walked out and walked onSouth Africa: From problem to placeZimbabwe: From Efficiency to resilienceBrazil: From power to playMexico: From scaling up to scaling acrossIndia: From transacting to giftingGreece: From intervention to friendshipCanada and U.S.: From separation to interdependenceU.S.: From hero to hostPart IV: Bringing It HomeWhat do you notice now?Who do you choose to be?Appendix: Sustaining Curiosity