We Are Stories: How AI Connects Us, Builds Trust, and Turns Dreams into Realities with Joep de Jong

In this special double-header, Scot Lowry and Jeff Bouwman share their discovery of Appreciative Inquiry and how, through the AiMS Institute, they have used it as a management approach to help companies transform the way they work. Scot is a Managing Partner at Promise One  and a Professor focused on Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition. He has found great success in applying a strengths-based approach to engage teams and stakeholders in dialogues that value people and unleash potential. Jeff is the co-founder and CEO of The AiMS Institute and helps leaders create transformative change by bringing an innovative new approach to how they run their businesses. They join us to share how they have seen Appreciative Inquiry enable leaders to think, talk, and act differently in a time of unprecedented complexity and uncertainty.     EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS Scot shares how using AI helped him successfully scale his company, transitioning from traditional management to embedding AI into daily operations, which led to increased employee engagement and business growth. Jeff highlights two essentials for leadership: being open to diverse perspectives and executing leadership through a strengths-based, appreciative approach. They share a case study with Precision Communication. A new owner faced resistance with a traditional top-down approach. By shifting to a co-creative process using AI, the company experienced a transformation in team dynamics, engagement, and business results. The owner involved the team in creating a new organizational structure and setting business priorities, leading to increased ownership, adaptability, and the achievement of 90-day goals. The company saw revenue growth and an energized team, indicating a cultural shift driven by appreciative practices. Scot and Jeff share that true engagement occurs by actively involving people in the process, a simple yet powerful principle that underpinned their success. They emphasize that they aren’t changing what is done, but rather HOW leadership is executed. They cite AI as a transformative tool for increasing engagement (the emotional connection that motivates employees to bring their best efforts voluntarily) and mutual commitment, moving away from top-down, command-and-control methods. Scot and Jeff stress the importance of AI as a management approach that encourages leaders to honor team input and integrate broader perspectives into decision-making. They recommend resources such as the AI Certificate Program at Champlain College, "Conversations Worth Having" by Jackie Stavros and Cheri Torres, and Jeff Bouwman's Change Maker program. Jeff advises using simple, actionable AI-based questions to unlock team wisdom, such as asking what's important, reflecting on past successes, and envisioning future possibilities. They both think that the best way to understand AI's benefits is through direct experience.   LIKE AND SHARE If you liked this podcast, please SHARE an episode with a friend, leave us a 5-star rating on Apple Podcasts, and follow Inspiring Impacts wherever you listen to podcasts! Learn more at appreciativeinquiry.champlain.edu.

Cheri Warren is a seasoned expert with over 30 years of experience in creating impactful, lasting change. Specializing in innovation and appreciative inquiry, she has led high-performance teams in the electric and gas utility industry, most notably as Senior Vice President at National Grid and later as Innovation Strategist on their Board. Cheri is also a dedicated advocate for women in industry, serving on various leadership committees and mentoring others. She holds advanced degrees in electrical engineering and has a long history of contributions to IEEE, including winning the 2007 PES Excellence in Distribution Award and speaking at the White House. She joins us to share her journey with Appreciative Inquiry and how it has impacted her work, teams, and life.   EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS Cheri Warren discovered Appreciative Inquiry (AI) while working as chief of staff for National Grid’s CEO, and she immediately saw its potential. AI was used to redesign a smart grid pilot by involving the Worcester community and stakeholders, leading to a more inclusive and effective initiative. A pivotal summit, facilitated by AI, transformed skeptics into supporters and identified nine initiatives, three related to energy and the smart grid. The revamped smart grid proposal secured an additional $10 million in funding and led to the creation of a "sustainability hub" in a low-income neighborhood. AI transformed performance reviews at National Grid from a negative annual event to a positive monthly conversation, significantly boosting team performance. National Grid’s engineers became highly motivated when they saw the real impact of their work on customers, leading to a high-performing team. National Grid began leading climate initiatives, achieving top national rankings in energy efficiency and changing industry practices towards sustainability. A third global summit focused on transforming the global supply chain with a climate focus, involving key figures like Dame Ellen Macarthur. AI principles have had a transformative effect on Cheri's leadership, emphasizing trust, connectedness, and a generative approach to problem-solving. Cheri encourages using the question "How might we?" to spark positive change, applying AI principles in both professional and personal contexts. To hear more from Cheri or read more about her work, check out this highlight reel from her talk at the 2023 ODN Conference, as well as her article with David Cooperrider in the AI Practitioner Journal.   LIKE AND SHARE If you liked this podcast, please SHARE an episode with a friend, leave us a 5-star rating on Apple Podcasts, and follow Inspiring Impacts wherever you listen to podcasts! Learn more at appreciativeinquiry.champlain.edu.  

Dr. Henning’s career in higher education spans nearly 25 years in both the United States and Canada, as well as serving as graduate faculty in New Zealand. She currently serves as the Director of the UNCW/3C Collaborative and is a professor of Community College Leadership and Higher Education at the University of North Carolina Wilmington’s, Watson College of Education. Born in Creek County Oklahoma, Denise is Cherokee & Mississippi Choctaw. As a committed educator, she believes in equity and inclusion, and shared leadership for administration in higher education. Her philosophy as a leader is based on building relationships through a collaborative and team-spirited approach, energizing people to think outward while focusing on the needs of every student and the organization. She has earned a reputation for cultivating and sustaining positive relationships, building collaborative teams, and energizing people in ways that foster their innovative spirit. She joins us to discuss her experiences using Appreciative Inquiry in higher education and with indigenous populations. In addition to her consulting group, Kiona-Oxendine & Associates, Denise is also a co-founder of Women Honoring Other Women, a nonprofit organization that aims to empower women and create change using strengths-based approaches for leadership development.   EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS Denise shares how her dissertation, rather than studying problems to death, focused on success factors. Instead of asking what they can do to better serve their students, Denise encourages higher education leadership to look for what are they doing well right now, what is working, and what might their students look like at their best? She uses Appreciative Inquiry to create trust between educational institutions and remote rural indigenous communities. She shares stories from her work building bridges between indigenous populations and higher education institutions, focusing especially on dignity and the value of indigenous customs. At one particular engagement, the nature and success of the work completely changed when they invited the people they were serving into the room and into strategic planning discussions. She talks about the importance of appreciative language and the power she has to kindly disrupt the conversation and share the etymology of certain phrases that can often be carelessly thrown about. She shares how Appreciative Inquiry taught her that, for the most part, people want to do the right thing. An appreciative approach has had a meaningful impact on her ability to grandparent and when dealing with personal loss. Denise believes that when we make room for hearing and sharing stories, people feel significant and valued. This changes their encounters with institutions in which they traditionally felt marginalized.   LIKE AND SHARE If you liked this podcast, please SHARE an episode with a friend, leave us a 5-star rating on Apple Podcasts, and follow Inspiring Impacts wherever you listen to podcasts! Learn more at appreciativeinquiry.champlain.edu.

Ever since he joined British Telecom (BT) as a senior executive in 1998, Joep de Jong has been using Appreciative Inquiry (AI) to lead, coach, and facilitate change and innovation in organizations . He consults and leads lectures on leadership, change management, organization development, and intercultural work at organizations ranging from the UN’s World Food Program, the European Space Agency to small and big for profit organizations. He is particularly interested in the sustainability of AI in organizations and in the use of it in every day processes (strategic planning, facilitation, coaching, appraisals etc.) in order to achieve the best possible results. Core in his approach is a strong belief in the possibilities and potential that resides in us all. He joins us to share where he has seen AI have a big impact. From mergers, to layoffs, to domestic violence, he demonstrates how AI, and the power of storytelling, can make a meaningful difference.   EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS: Joep shares how one of the most powerful invitations in Appreciative Inquiry, that of storytelling,  immediately “sold” him on the approach. He notes how during a technical merger between two companies, storytelling was an integral part of building trust between the two teams. Joep talks about his favorite go-to tool for co-creating visions and values: The Wall of Wonder. Using an appreciative approach and truly walking the talk of his belief in relationships helped Joep during a particularly difficult round of layoffs  He shares how he helped facilitate discussions around domestic violence, using Appreciative Inquiry to help them focus on peace in the house. Joep is credited with the quote, “A problem is nothing but a frustrated dream.” He challenges us to prove him wrong.   LIKE AND SHARE If you liked this podcast, please SHARE an episode with a friend, leave us a 5-star rating on Apple Podcasts, and follow Inspiring Impacts wherever you listen to podcasts! Learn more at appreciativeinquiry.champlain.edu.

Dr. Claudia Gross is a soulful Business Humanist, Organizational Visionary, Consultant and Trainer. For over 20 years, she has facilitated transformations in organizations, teams and individuals mainly in the Maghreb, the Middle East and Sub-Saharan Africa and now online around the world. She trains and offers consultancy regarding a wide variety of topics within the areas of HUMAN futures of work*ing and collaborating. She supports teams in transforming, healing and ultimately liberating their day-to-day work and their truly living organizations. She facilitates purpose-driven planning workshops, team building retreats, multi-stakeholder processes and a variety of interactive and inspiring events. She joins us with stories about global appreciative impacts, from Pakistan to Yemen to Sri Lanka. She also shares her speakGreen work and how appreciative micro practices can greatly enhance your daily life.     EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS Claudia shares with us how she helps groups of people envision a future that they want and take steps toward bringing that future to life. She tells us about work she did in Pakistan, helping them envision a world where hospitals were no longer needed because public health and community development was so strong.  A team in Yemen envisioned no more children begging in the street because there was such an increase in food security and food sovereignty that children could now go to school. Her work in Sri Lanka was with a number of small business owners who were seeking to broaden their network of trade associations, support companies active in regenerative economies, and better represent themselves at trade fairs. She highlights the cross-cultural relevance and global applicability of Appreciative Inquiry. Claudia shares her work as author and founder of speakGreen, which seeks to increase awareness of our language and encourage more conscious and intentional word choices. She shares her favorite examples of where intentional word choice makes a meaningful difference. Claudia shares her advice that embedding these micropractices into your daily life can infuse your life with gratitude and have a profound impact on your life and your relationships.   LIKE AND SHARE! If you liked this podcast, please SHARE an episode with a friend, leave us a 5-star rating on Apple Podcasts, and follow Inspiring Impacts wherever you listen to podcasts! Learn more at appreciativeinquiry.champlain.edu.

Dr. Nicole Bossard helps community and social service agencies align organizational values and business practices; strengthen accountability processes; improve collaborative partnerships; improve employee engagement and dramatically expand leadership capacity throughout the organization. With over 25 years experience helping social and human service providers make the shift from compliance-driven practice to real impact for individuals, families, employers, and communities in urban, suburban, rural areas, and Tribal nations across the United States, Dr. Nicole understands the pressures to perform and deliver results in a systems context. She joins us to share her journey with Appreciative Inquiry, where she has seen it have real impact in child protective services, and how she thinks organizations can tap into their best resource: the full engagement and inclusion of their employees and customers!    EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS Dr. Nicole shares how she discovered Appreciative Inquiry and what pushed her toward taking a deep dive in applying it in her work. She shares her commitment to making our relationship accountability objectives as important as our systems change objectives. Appreciative Inquiry challenges the faulty premise that we have to focus in on the problem, which only pigeon holes us to the presenting issue. Dr. Nicole’s work leading systems change in child welfare services meant gathering a whole system of stakeholders, including among others, birth parents. She shares how she helped create safe spaces for people in a system rife with secondary trauma. She walks us through the process of how she ran a Summit to improve system outcomes for child welfare services. There is a transformation that happens when you invite people to see themselves as leaders. Dr. Nicole shares the story of Sherry Tomlinson and how important it is to include big loud, sometimes scary, voices. She leaves us with the takeaway that this approach to human systems allows for a soul blossoming that creates so much value and the kind of collaboration needed in the world today. LIKE AND SHARE If you liked this podcast, please SHARE an episode with a friend, leave us a 5-star rating on Apple Podcasts, and follow Inspiring Impacts wherever you listen to podcasts! Learn more at appreciativeinquiry.champlain.edu.

Ignacio is an Assistant Professor at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, with a joint position between the Business School and the Institute for Sustainable Development. His research focuses on the foundations and practices of appreciative organization development and change, the study of teams in organizations, the integration of sustainability into the business strategy of a firm, and the potential of inter-organizational collaboration to tackle grand challenges. As a consultant, he has specialized in implementing appreciative approaches; embedding sustainability as a way to create competitive advantage; and developing value-based cultural transformation programs. He shares with us his discovery of Appreciative Inquiry, his inspiration and work  to shift the educational paradigm in Chile, and the impacts of some of his consulting work and research. 

Fran Stoddard is a journalist and consultant who has been involved in education, public relations, media production, facilitation, and strategy development for more than 30 years. With a deep interest in helping organizations and communities move forward, Fran has used Appreciative Inquiry to help inspire impacts in towns and communities across the country.

Dr. Jackie Stavros is globally renowned as the thought leader behind the SOAR approach to strategic planning, revolutionizing how organizations approach their future with generative conversations that yield tangible results. With her new groundbreaking work on 'Conversations Worth Having,' Jackie exemplifies how to seamlessly integrate AI principles into everyday life.

Who’s Inspiring Impacts today? It’s the one and only, Dr. David Cooperrider, the first person to coin the term “Appreciative Inquiry”! David Cooperrider, PhD, is a professor and Founder of the Center for Business as an Agent of World Benefit at the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University. As we wrap up Season 1 of Inspiring Impacts, David joins host Dr. Lindsey Godwin to share his definition and perspectives on three decades of global f Appreciative Inquiry work. David shares stories of how  Appreciative Inquiry first developed, how he’s applied it in his own life, and how he’s seen others use AI to create positive change in their lives and the world for over 30 years. Highlighting many of the themes we’ve discussed throughout this season, he answers questions you’ve likely been wondering. He also details the powerful role of language in bringing people together in a creative mode, practicing Appreciative Inquiry, and realizing transformation. David Cooperrider, PhD, is the Fairmount Minerals Professor of Social Entrepreneurship at the Weatherhead School of Management, Case Western Reserve University. Currently David serves as Faculty Director of the Center for Business as an Agent of World Benefit. David is best known as the co-creator and creative thought leader of Appreciative Inquiry (AI). His founding work with AI is creating a positive revolution in the leadership of change; it is helping institutions all over the world discover the power of the strength-based approaches to multi-stakeholder innovation and collaborative design. Cooperrider’s work is especially unique because of its ability to enable positive change, innovation, and sustainable design in systems of large and complex scale. Episode Highlights: The origin story of the term “Appreciative Inquiry”. Why the “whole system” approach is so important in the Appreciative Inquiry model. “Words create worlds.” – What is the meaning behind that phrase? Reframing as a core principle of Appreciative Inquiry & how David brought reframing to life in his own health journey. Why storytelling is a powerful tool and a core part of any appreciative process. Appreciative questions you can take with you into work, relationships, personal health, and more. Join us next season for more conversations, stories, and guests who are Inspiring Impacts all over the world! Did this episode inspire or impact you? Want to make an impact on us? If so, SHARE this episode with a friend, leave us a 5-star rating on Apple Podcasts, and follow Inspiring Impacts wherever you listen to podcasts! Resources & Previous Episodes Mentioned: More about David's work and writing: https://www.davidcooperrider.com  David's commentary on the original AI article he and Suresh Srivastva published https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/S1475-9152(2013)0000004001/full/html UN Global Compact Appreciative Inquiry Summit: https://aicommons.champlain.edu/educational-material/united-nations-global-compact-leaders-summit/  Making Change Easy: The Tiniest Ai Summit in the World.  This article details David's personal health journey using AI reframing as an approach AI and the United Religions Initiative (URI) http://www.theinterfaithobserver.org/journal-articles/2019/5/13/appreciative-inquiry-and-the-united-religions-initiative Ame Lambert: add link when live Jackie Wong: add link when live Liz Vogel: https://bit.ly/43IjfSz Luc Verheijen: https://bit.ly/43KO7Sg Tojo Thatchenkery: add link when live Ellen Drolette: https://bit.ly/44HAgOc Yabome Gilpin-Jackson: https://bit.ly/47aQjWc Ronald Fry: https://bit.ly/44GXN1F Inspiring Quotes: “Appreciative Inquiry is all about the search for the true, the good, the better, the possible.” “We grow and we become what we most deeply, frequently, and most powerfully ask questions about.” “There’s a big difference between eliminating something and enabling something and you can’t enable what you can’t talk about it.” “We’ve underestimated the role of the positive in human systems… What good is hope, inspiration, and joy as it relates to growing into a changed person, growing into a transformed organization?” “People don’t resist change, they resist being changed by others. We are hardwired to love change when it’s done in a way that brings forward hope… joy… learning.” What is Appreciative Inquiry? Appreciative Inquiry, sometimes referred to as “the other AI”, is one of the best kept secrets behind meaningful and lasting change at organizations. The AI approach is strength-based, meaning it focuses on identifying and leveraging successes to solve problems, rather than focusing on trying to fix individual failures.