The Seven Practices: at a glance

How do we begin breaking out of business as usual?

From 2015-2022, Beloved Economies conducted a collaborative research process with 60 diverse enterprises across the U.S. that all shared a common thread: each was sharing power is ways that boldly departed from business as usual in their respective sector, and in the process, each was achieving standout forms of success.

Over time, we realized that there was a common pattern in how these groups were sharing power with such transformative results. This pattern is the seven practices summarized below.

You can learn more about the practices, and how to apply them with your own team in bringing to life a beloved economy, in our book, Beloved Economies: Transforming how we work.

The Seven Practices Defined

  • Share Decision-Making Power

    Operating as peers across teams and groups - trusting one another to hold creative decision-making authority, impart insight, and share the risks and returns of our work together.

  • Prioritize Relationships

    Dedicating time and care to connect as human beings in our everyday interactions with team members and people in the broader community whom our work affects.

  • Reckon With History

    Creating intentional time, space, and processes to unpack and address the past in ways relevant to the work at hand.

  • Seek Difference

    Refusing to accept business-as-usual assumptions about who should be at the table and cultivating multiple, meaningful forms of diversity among our groups.

  • Source From Multiple Ways of Knowing

    Considering, valuing, and attuning to multiple types of knowledge, ranging from technical training to lived experience to spirituality to what we sense from the living world.

  • Trust There is Time

    Choosing to believe that there is always time available to prioritize authentic connection, reflection, and care in how we work – including through following these practices.

  • Prototype Early & Often

    Sharing and testing ideas at each step of a process, and deciding together what best next steps to take from what we learn.