Dr David Cooperrider is the originator of the Appreciative Inquiry method. In this interview with Jennifer Salopek he talks about how AI started and sets out the AI philosophy in clear and easily-understood terms:
Appreciative inquiry addresses three fundamental facts about human beings: exceptionality, essentiality, and equality.
Exceptionality means that all of us are exceptions to the rule. No two human beings are exactly alike. Appreciative inquiry tries to measure each person’s uniqueness, and people resonate and respond to that. Management methods that see people as interchangeable cogs create resistance to change.
Essentiality refers to everyone’s need to feel needed-to feel essential, but not central. We like to feel that we would be missed. Unfortunately, a recent Gallup poll found that only 20 percent of employees believe that their company knows and values their strengths.
Equality means that we each want to share our voices. People must feel that they have a right and a responsibility to lift up their visions of a better world.