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The task I have set for myself is to combine in a coherent way three interlacing strands of future oriented thinking: futurology, eschatology, and ethics. The ethical task of the present generation, as I see it, is to project future visions of a just and sustainable global community and then enlist present resources to turn that vision into actuality. …
David Cooperrider & Audrey Selian 's insight:
Eschatological ontology is based upon what the world should be, not on what it is. I asked then and ask now: could there be a connection between secular futurology and Christian eschatology? Should there be a connection? The key to the connection, in my judgment, is the concept of prolepsis. The idea of prolepsis goes back to Aristotle’s rhetoric. It refers to the first paragraphs of a scholarly essay, wherein the author tells the reader in summary form what the argument will be that follows. It refers to that brief abstract scientists place at the beginning of a technical journal article. It is, in short, the entire essay in advance of the essay. Shifting from rhetoric to ontology, prolepsis is future reality appearing ahead of time in abbreviated or fragmentary yet authentic form.
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Tens of trillions of global investment dollars are pouring into companies touting robust environmental, social and governance credentials. Now short-sellers spy an opportunity.
David Cooperrider & Audrey Selian 's insight:
Authentically green leaders are outperforming the market and so are the "greenwashing" companies-- only in the short term. But then the fall happens. They, the greenwashers misrepresenting their "betterness for the world" are discovered.
And then its the short sellers who win. Investments defined as "sustainable" account for more than a quarter of all assets under management globally, according to the Global Sustainable Investment Alliance. About $31 trillion has been invested, buoyed by analyst reports that show companies with strong ESG (environmental, social and good governance) narratives outperform their peers. Some short-sellers, including Carson Block of Muddy Waters, Josh Strauss of Appleseed Capital and Chad Slater of Morphic Asset Management, argue share prices can be bolstered by corporate misrepresentation about sustainability, or so-called "greenwashing". "Greenwashing is absolutely rampant now," says Slater, whose fund bets on both rising and falling share prices. If companies fail to engage with long-term investors, he sees a red flag. "From the short side, it's quite interesting."
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David Cooperrider & Audrey Selian 's insight:
New Change Equation with David Cooperrider, PhD Develop a coherent P.O.S.I.T.I.V.E change platform January 27 - March 14
Offered completely online, "The New Change Equation" leverages the practical insights of Case Western University Professor David Cooperrider, PhD, professor of organizational behavior and author of "Appreciative Inquiry: A Positive Revolution in Change." This leadership and management development workshop is designed to help both individuals and leadership groups manage change--and to scale up excellence across the enterprise. Attending as a change management team is a great way to supercharge your change initiative. Contact Aparna Malhotra or call 216.368.0990 for team pricing.
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David Cooperrider & Audrey Selian 's insight:
The great business philosopher Charles Handy, a little more than a year ago, called for a business reformation--a revolution really. He used to think that the answer to building more fully human organizations--businesses that also nurture life and nature--might be a charter for humanity to be used as a guide to organization. But what we really need he argued is a transformational business reformation.
We need to rethink how organizations, particularly businesses, are actually run, why they are run, and what their purpose and role are in society. We need to figure out how to keep human values intact inside the corporation and how business enriches, nourishes, and replenishes society and ecosystems . And if that seems ambitious, consider the achievement of Martin Luther – one person on his own. And not just Luther. In 1970 Milton Friedman took it on himself to announce that the only purpose of a business was to make a profit. That’s how, argues Handy, we arrived at shareholder value (a phrase previously unknown), followed by agency theory, the idea of a corporation as a nexus of contracts, and stock options, eventually legalized by Congress. And now, a swamp of buyback shares, trillions of dollars going into the private equities of some of the senior managers. This too was a revolution – an unwelcome one, but a revolution nonetheless.. So where do we find another leader? One who will lead our reformation? Well, says Handy: "Let me follow another Martin Luther and share a dream. Couldn’t the modern Wittenberg be the Peter Drucker Global Forum? And the Luther of our time be Peter Drucker? With his words from the grave magnified … by all of us. And exemplified by putting our words into practice. If people criticize, we have to be bold, like Luther, and say: here I stand, I can do no other, because this is the right way to behave. So don’t ask for leaders. It’s up to us to start small fires in the darkness, until they spread and the whole world is alight with a better vision of what we could do with our businesses. If not us, then who? if not now, then when?"
David Cooperrider & Audrey Selian 's curator insight,
November 27, 2019 3:55 PM
The business philosopher Charles Handy, a little more than a year ago, called for a business reformation--a revolution really. He used to think that the answer to building more fully human organizations--businesses that also nurture life and nature--might be a charter for humanity to be used as a guide to organization.
But what we really need he argued is a transformational business reformation. We need to rethink how organizations, particularly businesses, are actually run, why they are run, and what their purpose and role are in society. We need to figure out how to keep human values intact inside the corporation and how business enriches, nourishes, and replenishes society and ecosystems . And if that seems ambitious, consider, says Handy, the achievement of Martin Luther – one person on his own. And not just Luther. In 1970 Milton Friedman took it on himself to announce that the only purpose of a business was to make a profit. That’s how, argues Handy, we arrived at shareholder value (a phrase previously unknown), followed by agency theory, the idea of a corporation as a nexus of contracts, and stock options, eventually legalized by Congress. And now, a swamp of buyback shares, trillions of dollars going into the private equities of some of the senior managers. This too was a revolution – an unwelcome one, but a revolution nonetheless.. So where do we find another leader? One who will lead our reformation? Well, says Handy: "Let me follow another Martin Luther and share a dream. Couldn’t the modern Wittenberg be the Peter Drucker Global Forum? And the Luther of our time be Peter Drucker? With his words from the grave magnified … by all of us. And exemplified by putting our words into practice. If people criticize, we have to be bold, like Luther, and say: here I stand, I can do no other, because this is the right way to behave. So don’t ask for leaders. It’s up to us to start small fires in the darkness, until they spread and the whole world is alight with a better vision of what we could do with our businesses. If not us, then who? if not now, then when?"
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Héctor Mauricio Escamilla Santana of Tecmilenio University sat down with us to talk about how a focus on purpose has changed their entire culture.
David Cooperrider & Audrey Selian 's insight:
How has Tecmilenio repositioned itself around well-being? Hector Escamilla Santana: Tecmilenio is a private nonprofit university with 31 campus locations in Mexico. In 2012, we experienced a decline in student enrollment, and we knew we needed to make changes. We initiated a disruptive innovation process focused on the needs of our stakeholders - the students, parents and industry, as well as future trends. We realized businesses hire people based on competencies - it’s less important what major they had, but graduates need to be able to fulfill the requirements of the position. Parents of students appreciate when their sons and daughters have jobs upon graduation. For students, universities exist to prepare them to have a successful life. Success in life should not be associated only with professional achievements or wealth - we believe that people who have and develop their purpose in life are happier. With that in mind, why not design a university that focuses on well-being and purpose?
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Is there a medicine for acedia? Aquinas says there is. “Zeal [the opposite of acedia] comes from an intense experience of the beauty of things.” There we have it: The Via Positiva is the medicine for acedia, the Number One Obstacle to saving the environment. Falling in love again with creation. With the earth and her creatures. With our own existence and the Earth’s. Thus it is the basis of an “Extinction Rebellion.”
David Cooperrider & Audrey Selian 's insight:
How is human inertia or apathy still today a key issue as we face (or refuse to face) Climate Change and a deadline of eleven years to turn things around? How do we cure the disease called Apathy or Inertia? These are questions the theologian Matthew Fox raises in his theory of change. In his theory, the greatest barrier to change is not technological (we have so many strengths, assets, and solutions) and it is not resistance to change. The bigger challenge is despair and apathy, the kind of "learned helplessness" that turns us off. What's the antidote to despair? Some say it is action itself--action is the antidote to despair. But Matthew Fox's answer is "zeal"--and that zeal comes from falling in love and intense experience of the beauty of things. It's about awe. It's about seeing through the gift of new eyes--and what he talks about as The Via Positiva."
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From
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Every Google search or YouTube upload costs the global network both energy and resources. As Google's head of sustainability, it's Kate E. Brandt's job to strategize solutions that cut the cost on our environment and our economy. In an innovative talk, she dives into her plan to green up Google by creating a circular economy which reuses, recycles and eliminates waste altogether.
David Cooperrider & Audrey Selian 's insight:
By 2030 the circular economy is estimated to be worth $4.5 trillion in positive economic output. But what if that’s an underestimate—ask the journalists at Green Biz?
For the last three years, Google has been working to make circular principles a reality across infrastructure, operations, and products, from data center servers to food waste in its cafes. But what does it take for a company with Google’s scale and complexity to become a circular business? And can technology speed our journey to a circular future? Kate Brandt, in this visionary but totally pragmatic talk, discusses the global tech company’s plans to transform Google, and offer others the chance to do the same, as the circular economy becomes reality. Every Google search or YouTube upload costs the global network both energy and resources. As Google's head of sustainability, it's Kate E. Brandt's job to strategize solutions that cut the cost on our environment and our economy. In an innovative talk, she dives into her plan to green up Google by creating a circular economy which reuses, recycles and eliminates waste altogether. Kate Brandt has always been an overachiever. Two-sport athlete. Voted most likely to succeed in high school. An Ivy League graduate. So, it’s not surprising that at 34 she’s charged with turning Google into the world leader in environmental practices. Kate Brandt leads sustainability across Google’s worldwide operations, products and supply chain. In this role, Kate partners with Google’s data centers, real estate, supply chain, and product teams to ensure the company is capitalizing on opportunities to strategically advance sustainability and circular economy. Previously in 2014 President Obama appointed Kate to serve as the Federal Environmental Executive and under EO 13693 she became the Nation's first Federal Chief Sustainability Officer. In this capacity, she was responsible for promoting sustainability across Federal Government operations including 360,000 buildings, 650,000 vehicles, and $445 billion annually in purchased goods and services. Prior to the White House, Kate held several senior roles in U.S. Federal Government including Senior Advisor at the Department of Energy, Director for Energy and Environment in the White House Office of Presidential Personnel, and Energy Advisor to the Secretary of the Navy. Kate is the recipient of the Distinguished Public Service Award, the highest award the U.S. Navy can give to a civilian, for her work helping the Navy go green. Outside Magazine named her as one of 40 women who have made the biggest impact on our world and Forbes listed her among the top 46 sustainability leaders in 2018. Kate serves on the boards of BSR, The Institute at Brown for Environment and Society, The Roosevelt Institute, Planet Forward, Stanford International Affairs Network, NSF Committee for Environmental Research and Education, and the Corporate Eco Forum. Kate received a Masters degree in International Relations from the University of Cambridge where she was a Gates Cambridge Scholar. She graduated with honors from Brown University.
David Cooperrider & Audrey Selian 's curator insight,
July 18, 2019 4:44 PM
By 2030 the circular economy is estimated to be worth $4.5 trillion in positive economic output. But what if that’s an underestimate—ask the journalists at Green Biz? For the last three years, Google has been working to make circular principles a reality across infrastructure, operations, and products, from data center servers to food waste in its cafes. But what does it take for a company with Google’s scale and complexity to become a circular business? And can technology speed our journey to a circular future? Kate Brandt, in this visionary but totally pragmatic talk, discusses the global tech company’s plans to transform Google, and offer others the chance to do the same, as the circular economy becomes reality. Every Google search or YouTube upload costs the global network both energy and resources. As Google's head of sustainability, it's Kate E. Brandt's job to strategize solutions that cut the cost on our environment and our economy. In an innovative talk, she dives into her plan to green up Google by creating a circular economy which reuses, recycles and eliminates waste altogether. Kate Brandt has always been an overachiever. Two-sport athlete. Voted most likely to succeed in high school. An Ivy League graduate. So, it’s not surprising that at 34 she’s charged with turning Google into the world leader in environmental practices. Kate Brandt leads sustainability across Google’s worldwide operations, products and supply chain. In this role, Kate partners with Google’s data centers, real estate, supply chain, and product teams to ensure the company is capitalizing on opportunities to strategically advance sustainability and circular economy. Previously in 2014 President Obama appointed Kate to serve as the Federal Environmental Executive and under EO 13693 she became the Nation's first Federal Chief Sustainability Officer. In this capacity, she was responsible for promoting sustainability across Federal Government operations including 360,000 buildings, 650,000 vehicles, and $445 billion annually in purchased goods and services. Prior to the White House, Kate held several senior roles in U.S. Federal Government including Senior Advisor at the Department of Energy, Director for Energy and Environment in the White House Office of Presidential Personnel, and Energy Advisor to the Secretary of the Navy. Kate is the recipient of the Distinguished Public Service Award, the highest award the U.S. Navy can give to a civilian, for her work helping the Navy go green. Outside Magazine named her as one of 40 women who have made the biggest impact on our world and Forbes listed her among the top 46 sustainability leaders in 2018. Kate serves on the boards of BSR, The Institute at Brown for Environment and Society, The Roosevelt Institute, Planet Forward, Stanford International Affairs Network, NSF Committee for Environmental Research and Education, and the Corporate Eco Forum. Kate received a Masters degree in International Relations from the University of Cambridge where she was a Gates Cambridge Scholar. She graduated with honors from Brown University.
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Champlain College's David L. Cooperrider Center for Appreciative Inquiry in the Stiller School of Business and IPEN will hold a World Positive Education Accelerator June 25-28, 2018 in Fort Worth, Texas. More than 1,200 participants from nearly two dozen countries are expected to attend IPEN’s Second Festival of Positive Education and an Appreciative Inquiry Summit. The goal of the 2018 meeting will be to design a plan to strengthen and advance positive education globally.
David Cooperrider & Audrey Selian 's insight:
Interested in keeping up to date on the Acceleration of Positive Education? Working groups continue and schools all over the world are advancing positive education. Conferences are also proliferating, such as this one:
http://ipen-network.com/ In June a year ago over 800 people from over 30 countries gathered in Fort Worth, TX to turn inspiration into action at the World Positive Education Accelerator (WPEA). Co-convened by the David L. Cooperrider Center for Appreciative Inquiry and the International Positive Education Network (IPEN), the WPEA brought together, educators, students, parents, researchers, policy makers, business leaders, philanthropists, and foundations interested in accelerating education that, in addition to focusing on academic excellence, also imparts the tools and skills that enable wellbeing and human flourishing. On Day 1 participants learned about research, applications, and innovations happening in education and in positive psychology today. On days 2-4, they used the appreciative inquiry summit methodology to elevate the strengths in the room, generate a vision for positive education's potential, and design and launch initiatives that will accelerate positive education around the globe. At the links below, please find materials that guided us through all 4 days of the event (WPEA Program and Summit Workbook), as well as materials that document our time together (Graphic Facilitation Charts, The WPEA Report):
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Gratitude is an acknowledgement that something meaningful has been done for us. It’s a deliberate recognition of the generosity of somebody else.
David Cooperrider & Audrey Selian 's insight:
Gratitude is an acknowledgement that something meaningful has been done for us. It’s a deliberate recognition of the generosity of somebody else.
Feeling and expressing gratitude can bring so much joy to your life. Remember how you felt helping a friend? The little warmth it made you feel inside your bones. To feel good, more regularly and naturally, you need to amend your expectations to see, apprehend, and appreciate the positive before you see the negative. It’s time to start recognising your accomplishments on the everyday. Do you ever just stop and give yourself a pat on the back for doing a good job on something?
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In this episode, we are joined by Hal Gregersen, author of The Innovator’s DNA, to discuss his latest book, Questions are the Answer. Hal is a Senior Lecturer in Leadership and Innovation and the Executive Director of the Leadership Center at MIT, and has previously taught at Dartmouth College, The World Economic Forum, and the London Business School.
David Cooperrider & Audrey Selian 's insight:
We live in worlds our questions create. Great leaders ask the questions others have not considered. In fact they ask lots more questions than declaring answers. I remember when I did an interview Peter Drucker when he was 93! And what i remember most is that he asked by 3x more questions than I did--and I was the interviewer! Hal Gergersen shares similar observations in his new book "Questions are the Answer." How might we..? is one of his favorites. Catalytic questions, primary questions, and disruptive questions, re-framing questions --these are the kinds of questions discussed for helping leaders to create the better question. The best leaders ask the best questions--they put fire in the heart and light people up. Have you learned or mastered the art of the "question burst?"
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This issue of AI Practitioner emerges from the World Positive Education Accelerator (WPEA) AI summit held in June 2018. The contributors – thought leaders and practitioners of Positive Education – were participants in the largest AI summit ever organized to accelerate Positive Education.
David Cooperrider & Audrey Selian 's insight:
Lindsey Godwin just announced it: "Hot off the press! A special issue of the AI Practitioner Journal on "Accelerating Positive Education" that I co-edited with the dynamic David Cooperrider and magnificent Michelle McQuaid! The full issue can be found at: https://aipractitioner.com/…/accelerating-positive-educati…/ AND.... we created this special issue in a multi-media format and we are particularly excited about... as each article was done as an interview with a global thought-leader/practitioner. So, in addition to the written articles, all the interviews for the issue are also online as podcasts and and FREE-ly available at: https://www.michellemcquaid.com/…/podcast-positive-education (THANK YOU Michelle for hosting them on your amazing site!)" All the podcast for the issue are online and freely available at: https://www.michellemcquaid.com/premium-product/podcast-positive-education
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David Cooperrider is on Facebook. Join Facebook to connect with David Cooperrider and others you may know. Facebook gives people the power to share and makes the world more open and connected.
David Cooperrider & Audrey Selian 's insight:
So much promise in bringing the positive education movement together in union with the world's 17 global goals. Why: its because of the concept of" mirror flourishing."
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FORT WORTH, Texas, June 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Arming Today's Kids to Cope: Positive Education the Key to Developing Resilient, Self-Confiden
David Cooperrider & Audrey Selian 's insight:
FORT WORTH, Texas, June 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- With school shootings, bullying and teen depression reaching a crescendo, thousands of educators from around the world are meeting in Fort Worth this week at the World Positive Education Accelerator June 25–28 to deal with the growing number of kids struggling to cope with school, their peers or society in general.
"Essentially we're meeting in Fort Worth and redesigning what 21st-century global education looks like," says Sir Anthony Seldon, president of The International Positive Education Network (IPEN), a co-convener of the four-day conference. "We want educators to walk away empowered with the tools, resources and connections to make real, lasting change." The need is high. Statistics paint a grim picture with studies showing one in five children will experience a major depressive episode before graduating from high school. Many enter universities unable to tolerate points of view other than their own. Alarmingly, employers find that new grads entering the workforce lack the "soft skills" needed to succeed in the workplace, such as tolerance, effective communication or critical thinking. Conference attendees from as far away as Australia, the U.K., Latin America and Dubai are sharing results of their research about how utilizing positive psychology — the scientific study of positive human functioning and positive education and its application in the classroom — can lead to the development of individuals who are resilient, learn more and exhibit a mindset of well-being. Together with peers worldwide, U.S. public and private school teachers, as well as policymakers, are learning more about what positive education is and how to integrate the latest research into curriculums that boost student well-being, resilience and "grit." The meeting is the largest of its kind ever held and provides cutting-edge-yet-practical, science-based tools and solutions that can be implemented in classrooms. Keynote speakers include Angela Duckworth, Ph.D., author of the best-selling book Grit: the Power of Passion and Perseverance; and Martin Seligman, Ph.D., founder of positive psychology, past president of the American Psychological Association and author of Flourish and The Hope Circuit, whose current mission is to transform social science to work on developing strengths, positive emotion, good relationships and meaning in life. Topics include "Empathy, an Antidote to Aggression," "Raising Confident Children" and "Future-Proofing Our Youth — Positive Psychology as an Antidote to a Rapidly Changing World," along with sessions that focus on peer pressure, reducing discipline problems and bullying. Co-convening the conference along with IPEN is Champlain College's David L. Cooperrider Center for Appreciative Inquiry, developers of a strength-based methodology that is creating a positive framework for change in education, the corporate world, public service and elsewhere. Appreciative inquiry is being used by conference attendees to generate concrete results that turn inspiration into lasting action, organizers say.
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David Cooperrider & Audrey Selian 's insight:
Hal Gregersen, Ph.D, author of The Question is the Answer--all on the power of questions to change the world--was influenced by the great curiosity velocity of Clayton Christensen, one of the great business thinkers of our day who just passed away. Gregersen, in an Ode to Clayton's impact on him writes:
"More than once during the past decade Clayton Christensen’s life on this earth has been spared. Last week he passed away, and my heart is broken. My first one-on-one meeting with Clay was twenty-five years ago, when we got together to share ideas on a potential research project. Clay’s bestselling book, The Innovator’s Dilemma, would not come out for at least another year, but the groundbreaking research behind it had been completed a few years earlier. ...Clay and I shared a common faith, which stresses building healthy relationships with God, family, friends, and strangers. We also shared a fundamental belief in “asking the right question” to find a better solution, and a curiosity about what it takes to do that. We both liked the New Testament verse that advises “if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God.” "So we talked about inquiry as a sacred act, and about how to engage with big questions like “Who am I?” and “What is my purpose here on planet Earth?” Of course, we also got work done that day (planting the seeds that would ultimately yield The Innovator’s DNA), but for me that was not the main impact of our meeting. Instead, after Clay left my office, it was his spiritual presence that stayed with me most. I distinctly sensed that something special had just happened – because it did. Twenty-five years later, Clay has become known worldwide for his insights that have changed the world of management. But in my life, his greatest influence has been in areas beyond professional interactions. There are two questions that I will always associate with Clay, even as basic and common as they may sound to you: “How are you doing?” and “How can I help?” It was the way that he asked them that made all the difference; after asking, he would stop, look at you with an expectant openness, and wait as long as needed for your honest answer. The same words that others would utter as greeting or small talk, coming from him, made a spirit-to-spirit connection, and promised real help. This amazed me especially in the past decade as Clay’s personal health turned into one roaring Nor’easter storm after another. Whether it was rain or shine in Clay’s life, he asked these two questions, and kept acting on what he learned. (See his colleague Efosa’s post for his own example of this.) " When I asked Clayton about how he came to believe so strongly in looking at surrounding conditions as the drivers of people’s behavior and decisions he said: I do have a propensity, when I see something that went well, to always ask “What caused it to go well?” And if something doesn't go well, I ask, "Why isn't it going well?" ... I think that's where I always start. But then, I have a question that I do not allow myself to ask, which is, "Was it the person that caused it to succeed or fail?" The reason why I say, "I don't wanna ask that question" is because, then, we would have to peel the veneer off the person and look inside, and that just is a whole different level of complexity. Instead, I ask, “What are all of the factors outside of the person that caused them to make the decisions that led to success or failure?” This emphasis on conditions was something he had expressed many times before. In fact, I recall when it first profoundly challenged my own perspective, which had been more psychological, on what causes a person to ask better questions. I had been arguing that new questions came primarily from the inside out, largely generated by individual differences in skills and aptitude. Clay listened intently and then asked me to sit down, in a chair in the middle of his office, and imagine that I was a senior executive at work. “What external forces are causing you to ask, or not ask, the right questions here and now? What external conditions are causing you to do and not do things in general, including this act of inquiry?” "Suddenly I saw what he meant, and those simple questions shook the foundations of my take on inquiry. Truly, for me, his questions were the answer. At the very core, Clay cared about gaining further light and knowledge and turning it into compassionate action. There is a piece of scripture he knew well that also seems to me to frame his life; it says we should “wear out our lives in bringing to light all the hidden of darkness.” Clay did just that. He wore out his life trying to shine light, truth, into dark places in hopes of making them brighter. God be with you, Clay, till we meet again. https://mailchi.mp/mit/thanks-for-asking-exploring-the-power-of-inquiry-at-work-and-in-life-3855889?e=17e69b0ba5"
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By Matthew Warren. Humans can be surprisingly selfless, compassionate and kind.
David Cooperrider & Audrey Selian 's insight:
Human beings can be surprisingly selfless, compassionate and kind. We’re all predisposed to help others, according to some researchers. Even in the presence of strangers who we may never see again, we regularly act for the benefit of the group and punish those who don’t, even if it comes at a personal expense — a behaviour sometimes called “strong reciprocity”. This could explain why people often co-operate rather than act selfishly in the kinds of tasks psychologists use to study economic behaviour — and why people will even forgo some of their winnings to punish those who act unfairly. It could even account for the fact that we love to queue (and shout at those who skip the line).
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In your book Enlightenment Now you say the world has made spectacular progress in every single measure of well-being, but almost no one knows about it. You even go as far to paraphrase the comedian Louis C.K. in your book, “that everything is amazing, but no one is happy”. So there’s clearly a gap in the appreciation we have for our lives. Why do you think that is?
David Cooperrider & Audrey Selian 's insight:
Once you start searching the data for "what works" the numbers start appearing all over, with consistency, and clarity. For example, look at books such as "The Pursuit of Human Well-being" and "Factfulness" and "Getting Better" and "Enlightenment Now."
Steven Pinker, in an interview about his book "Enlightenment Now" states: "Contrary to popular belief our world is getting better, not worse and this seems to be a hard pill to swallow for a lot of us. In his juggernaut release of 2011, The Better Angels of Our Nature, Pinker made the case that violence, in general, has steadily declined over time, presenting six major causes for this. This is one thinker that wants the data to do the talking rather than his words. In his latest book Enlightenment Now, he continues this number fuelled charge for reason, going as far to say that the advanced benefits we’re experiencing are being “wasted on the crappiest generation of spoiled idiots”. We are far better off today than we have ever been. But we don’t seem to be paying attention."
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The philosophy of kintsugi is built on the idea that flaws are not something to be ashamed of, but rather a source of beauty and pride.
David Cooperrider & Audrey Selian 's insight:
Kintsugi, or gold splicing, is a physical manifestation of resilience. Instead of discarding marred vessels, practitioners of the art repair broken items with a golden adhesive that enhances the break lines, making the piece unique. They call attention to the lines made by time and rough use; these aren’t a source of shame. This practice—also known as kintsukuroi (金繕い ), which literally means gold mending—emphasizes the beauty and utility of breaks and imperfections. It turns a problem into a plus.
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Changing the Game – with Appreciative Inquiry
David Cooperrider & Audrey Selian 's insight:
I recently had the honor of being interviewed by DENNIS J. PITOCCO | PUBLISHER | EDITOR-IN-CHIEF of BIZcatalyst 360...the topic was on the power of Appreciative Inquiry and some of the early family and life influences in my life prior to the theory and spread of "AI" ...but most important it ends with an invitation to you to take part in a live and large scale Appreciative Inquiry Summit with a whole city! The project is called Connect & Propel and it's a Tampa Florida whole-system-in-the-room AI Summit coming in November--with the Mayor, business leaders, community activists, nonprofits, and citizens. It's exciting. Have you ever wanted to see or experience a large scale AI Summit in action? At the end of the interview is all the information you need to become involved or pay it forward to others who care about positive change.
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National Geographic, in Partnership With P&G, Explores a Global Movement, a Multiplatform Docuseries Driven by Activists, Game Changers, and Policymakers
David Cooperrider & Audrey Selian 's insight:
There is, as Paul Hawken once described it, an amazing "blessed unrest" and positive global movement emerging the world over. National Geographic, in Partnership With P&G, Explores a Global Movement via a Multiplatform Docuseries Driven by Activists, Game Changers, and Policymakers....
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What if we let disabilities take a back seat and we focused on the abilities that might look like superpowers in the right setting? Let's take a look at some examples.
David Cooperrider & Audrey Selian 's insight:
Many people whose brains work in unusual ways are said to have “disabilities”. But what if we accepted variation as normal and then looked for unique abilities and hidden potential in every mind? Have you ever wished that you could remember names and details flawlessly? What if you could speed-read and recall almost everything you saw? How about concentration: can you handle repetitive tasks with limitless precision and relentlessly follow a train of thought for hours without interruption? These are common for people with autism and yet the world has barely awoken to the fact that in the right situations, those skills would seem like superpowers.
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Leadership guru Hal Gregersen outlines how senior leaders can use brainstorming techniques and out-of-the-box thinking to lead disruptive innovations in this article from our Think:Act Magazine.
David Cooperrider & Audrey Selian 's insight:
How is it that one creates an organization that's truly innovative? How do you make sure that innovation occurs, not in occasional bursts, but consistently? Hal Gregersen, a professor at MIT's Sloan School of Management, thinks that in our search for innovation, the biggest mistake we make is to start by looking for answers, the dazzling, out-of-the-box solutions that no one could ever imagine. He believes we must step back and examine the questions that launch these innovation quests: Are they the right questions? Or are there better questions to ask?
By asking better questions, we can come up with a better problem -to-opportunity focus, and a better creative path. As kids, we have this ability to ask "how might we" questions, but over time our institutions and societal conditioning snuff it out. In this interview, Gregersen, who just wrote a book titled "Questions Are the Answer", talks of ways to bring back our curious instincts. One technique to get it flowing is "the Question Burst"--a brainstormer where all the group does is raise questions--new ways of approaching an opportunity or framing the task. It's fun but beware: most questions are not learning focused or possibility focused, but judgemental. But innovation thrives on possibility thinking and this, of course, depends on possibility asking. Read on for this great interview.
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Not only are people who believe in oneness more satisfied with their lives, other studies show that life satisfaction has a positive impact on many other factors of our lives. Indeed, a 2017 study published in the journal Cogent Education revealed that very high life satisfaction is related to academic success in college -- including higher GPAs, increased self-efficacy and lower school-related stress. Better grades in college, in turn, lead to higher incomes, research shows. Life satisfaction is also related to better health, which again is related to your finances — in that you’ll spend less on health care.
David Cooperrider & Audrey Selian 's insight:
Those who believe in the concept of oneness — that all things are connected and interdependent -- are more satisfied with their lives than people who don’t share this belief, according to research published by the American Psychological Association on Thursday. That’s true regardless of religion. “The results of this study reveal a significant positive effect of oneness beliefs on life satisfaction, even controlling for religious beliefs,” research author Dr. Laura Marie Edinger-Schons of the University of Mannheim in Germany concludes in a statement.
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" Once upon a time, some 13.799 billion years ago, a state which we call the singularity sparked the void. It’s a state in which the laws of physics as we know them don’t work; a state that supposedly birthed the Universe.
David Cooperrider & Audrey Selian 's insight:
Joseph Campbell once said "Awe is what moves us forward." But how often do we feel it? It seems we each, for some reason, go into numbness. The appreciative eye--the capacity to marvel and value and move into the experience of mystery--goes dormant. So I love this essay in Medium because it asks us to think in geologic time--like 13 billion years ago. We think the Milky Way is vast. Yet even then, within its tiny fraction, the Milky Way has to contend with some 200 billion galaxies, the Sun with a septillion stars (a one with 24 zeroes), and our miniature home with somewhere in the range of another septillion planets. So we say "200 billion galaxies" but do we FEEL its meaning? In the broader cosmological drama, not only is Earth not the main actor, but the idea that it has any meaningful role to play at all is absorbed and then dwarfed by sheer quantification...
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This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences. When her daughter Evie was born with a significant geneti
David Cooperrider & Audrey Selian 's insight:
This is a story about the gift of new eyes and an amazingly uplifting example of Appreciative Inquiry into "what gives life?"--even when all our normal ways of seeing are focused mainly on deficits. It is also a story of how words create worlds. When her daughter Evie was born with a significant genetic imbalance, photographer Rachel Callander turned to language to look beyond her disabilities and instead see her "superpowers." Rachel's talk describes how Evie inspired her to connect with and photograph other "superpower babies."
https://twitter.com/SuprPowrBabies https://www.superpowerbabyproject.org/ http://tedxauckland.com/ ; https://www.champlain.edu/appreciativeinquiry After losing her daughter Evie, who had a rare chromosome condition, award winning NZ Wedding and Portrait photographer Rachel Callander turned her talent to capturing the beauty and abilities of other children with ‘Super Powers’. Rachel has traveled the length and breadth of NZ meeting ordinary families being made extraordinary through the journeys their children are taking them on. As a result of her travels, Rachel’s insights and images offer a fresh understanding and language regarding disability. The stunning photographs of the children alongside the conversations with their parents are presented in the Super Power Baby Project, a photographic art book due for launch in August 2014. The Super Power Baby Project is a life affirming work. It does not shy from the notion that genetic syndromes bring with them their share of challenge, grief and difficulty. The strong message is though that there is much that lies beyond that. Rachel demonstrates that these children have much to teach us about themselves and ourselves, which is to be celebrated as truly exceptional.
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Why Sandberg and famed psychologists believe "clear-eyed optimists" will shape the future.
David Cooperrider & Audrey Selian 's insight:
What's the one key human strength that's shared by innovators--a strength that builds relationships for collective action; builds resilience; promotes curiosity; expands the sense of the possible; and activates caring for the future?
Read on. One executive, Sheryl Sandberg, proposes an answer and cites studies and her own experience.
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