Page 22 - Appreciative Leadership

Introduction xxi

• “When we trust the people we lead, it calls them to be their best
selves.” 3
• “Don’t be like Betty. She was a negative role model. All I learned
was what not to do.” 4
• “As you get to know a person, you realize they are a whole
5
universe.”
• “If you don’t know what to do, just keep talking to more people
until it becomes clear.” 6

We found stories and quotes like these to be enlivening and
generative, as they so clearly pointed to and reinforced our nascent
ideas about the Five Core Strategies. Furthermore, as we listened to,
looked into, and discussed them, one very provocative idea repeatedly
emerged: great leadership—what we call Appreciative Leadership—is
about positive power.
The idea of positive power got our attention, and so we began to

speak and teach about it. In so doing, we discovered that it made sense
and resonated deeply with people at all levels of leadership in organi-
zations and communities. It seems that positive power is something
everyone implicitly wants; yet few have an explicit framework for talk-
ing about it, doing it, or being it. Once again, we decided that research
was in order: we needed to test the concepts of the Five Core Strat-
egies of Appreciative Leadership and to explore what people mean
when they talk about positive power. 7

Appreciative Focus Groups

We hosted 10 focus groups on Appreciative Leadership and positive
power. Our primary purpose was to more clearly understand what
people want and need of leadership in order to be their best—to real-
ize their potential. We wanted to hear, and learn about, exemplary
leadership from people who have experienced it, in their own words
and voices.
We asked participants questions about their high-point experi-
ences of leadership, experiences of positive power, and the Five Core