I became a member of the Board of Directors of the Coop at last April’s membership meeting. Here are a few first impressions from a new member: It’s been great so far, but somewhat different than I had expected.

Managing a business with a gross sales of $4.5 million is quite an enterprise, and there is a long, complex history with many twists and turns. We’re tried different styles of management … of handling the relation of staff and member workers … of economic planning and accountability … of dealing with problems and complaints. Seen in retrospect, the Board has not always made the right decisions. But one thing is already clear to me: the Board takes its responsibility for providing what the Coop’s shoppers want, in the best atmosphere possible, very seriously; and it is consistently asking what we could do better.

The Coop is not an island but stands within a network of other Cooperative enterprises, on the one hand, and a network of producers and distributors of products which the Coop markets. How can we function as a viable alternative within a market-driven economy whose values are often widely at variance to Coop values? How can we learn from and gather strength from the experience of other like-minded enterprises without losing our individuality? A new Board member has a lot to learn and a lot of new questions to ask, but it’s already clear that a great deal of thought has gone on, and will continue to go on, about these issues. There is a complex path ahead for us.