Page 30 - Appreciative Leadership

Appreciative Leadership Now 3

4. Holistic, sustainable approaches are essential. Today’s decisions
will cast the die for generations to come. The most pressing

social, economic, environmental, and political challenges of our

time are global in nature. They cannot be resolved by one person,
one country, or one business. They require unprecedented

appreciation of differences and collaboration. In short, they call

for Appreciative Leadership.

What Is Appreciative Leadership?

Appreciative Leadership is a philosophy, a way of being and a set
of strategies that give rise to practices applicable across industries,

sectors, and arenas of collaborative action. The following defi nition of
Appreciative Leadership is full of potential. As you read it ask yourself,
“What does this mean to me and for the way I work?” We also suggest
that you off er it up for discussion among colleagues and team mem-
bers. Read it to them and discuss, “What does this mean for us and for
the way we work together?”

Appreciative Leadership is the relational capacity to mobilize
creative potential and turn it into positive power—to set in

motion positive ripples of confidence, energy, enthusiasm,
and performance—to make a positive difference in the

world.

Embedded in this definition are four formative ideas about
Appreciative Leadership: (1) it is relational; (2) it is positive; (3) it
is about turning potential into positive power; and (4) it has rip-
pling effects. You may also realize, as many others have, that each

of these four ideas represents a paradigm shift: a clear movement

away from the habitual, traditional, and individualistic command
and control practices of leadership toward “a new normal”: the
positive, socially generative principles, strategies, and practices of
Appreciative Leadership.