Issue 58 of Alternatives Magazine

Community vs. Business - How About the Best of Both Worlds? by Mellissa Seaman

I was shocked, but a deep validating calm seeped into my bones as I found my face nodding in affirmation. “It’s pervasive,” I thought, “it’s not just us.” As I looked around the circle, I saw heads nodding with the same flush of recognition in the faces of leaders from some 15 other community-based holistic retreat centers, including Harbin, Esalen, Spirit Rock, Mount Madonna, Findhorn, Kalani Honua, and Breitenbush Hot Springs.

One of the managing directors of Breitenbush had just shared that, despite their fully democratic, accessible, and inclusive decision-making structure, one of the biggest cultural issues was an “Us vs. Them” mentality among some community members toward management. And those who complained the most about their feelings of powerlessness in the process were often those least likely to share specific ideas, to participate in the many open meetings, or to step up for a turn in a leadership position in this worker-owned cooperative. “They say it’s ‘Us vs. Them,” he explained, “when actually it’s ‘Us vs. Us!’”