A highlight of Berrett-Koehler’s recent annual shareholders meeting was this 5-minute BK 30th Anniversary Video:
The Weaving Influence digital marketing agency (which assists scores of BK authors) surprised our BK team by creating this video as a gift for our 30th Anniversary.
The first person featured on the video is Praveen Madan, who served as BK board chair from 2017 to 2019 and for 9 years before that was a BK board member. Praveen is one of the most visionary independent bookstore owners, leaders, and spokespeople in the country. Praveen describes how Berrett-Koehler has made a difference in the world by publishing books that seek to “change the underlying beliefs, mindsets, institutions, and structures that keep generating the same cycles of problems, no matter who our leaders are or what improvement programs we adopt.” Some of the ways that BK publications have done this are described in this article.
Throughout its history Berrett-Koehler has been a pioneer not only in the books we publish but also in the company’s ownership, governance, management, and relationships with authors and other stakeholders. In 2011 Berrett-Koehler was one of the first two book publishing companies in the world to become a Certified B Corporation, and in 2015 Berrett-Koehler was the first book publisher to go beyond B Corp Certification to also become a Benefit Corporation. The ways in which these designations guide Berrett-Koehler to meet rigorous standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency—and how well we are meeting those standards—are described in our annual public benefit report, which is posted on our website: 2021 Benefit Report
Another distinctive way of helping Berrett-Koehler fulfill our mission of “Connecting People and Ideas to Create a World That Works for All” and live our values is the Berrett-Koehler Constitution created in 2016.
A good overview of various distinctive aspects of Berrett-Koehler’s purpose, ownership, and governance is this steward-ownership BK case study article by the Purpose Network.
One constant throughout Berrett-Koehler’s history has been the deep and steadfast support of many different stakeholder groups—including employees, authors, service providers, suppliers, sales partners, investors, and readers—in helping us advance an impactful publishing agenda and pioneering organizational practices. We are deeply grateful for these 30 years of support. And we hope that Berrett-Koehler can continue to progress and have even more positive impact in the world over our next 30 years.
