This book includes a plain text version that is designed for high accessibility. To use this version please follow this link.
CERTIFICATION MADE POSSIBLE


The Completist


Having helped everyone from the United Nations and the U.S. Navy to FedEx and the American Hospital Association with Appreciative Inquiry—his pioneering large-group design- thinking method—David Cooperrider is setting his sights on revolutionizing meetings and conferences. His big idea? The Complete Convention. BY SUSAN SARFATI


When David Cooperrider was a kid, his father and brothers created “a Kennedy-like compound” at a lake where around 80 members of the family would come together every sum- mer. “It’s rare in our society,” he said, “this kind of commit- ment to family. Imagine all the cousins, aunts and uncles, and everyone staying together as a family across decades.” More than 50 years later, the summer get-togethers still happen. It was in that setting where Cooperrider developed a


fascination with large-group dynamics and how decisions were made together, from where the next swing set should go, to whether it was time for a new raft in the swimming area. “From my childhood, I was fascinated by the large- group dynamic,” he told me. “I paid attention to the chal- lenges. I developed a passion for the effectiveness of large groups and how to make convening a group of people fun, inclusive, lasting, and productive.”


64 pcmaconvene December 2011 A professor of social entrepreneurship at theWeatherhead


School of Management at CaseWestern Reserve University, where he also serves as faculty director of the school’s Fowler Center for Sustainable Value, Cooperrider has pursued that passion, pioneering a change-leadership methodology called Appreciative Inquiry (AI). The book he co-wrote with Diana Whitney about AI—Appreciative Inquiry: A Positive Revo- lution in Change—shifts the perception of organizations from “problems to be solved” to “centers of infinite strengths.” And what better place to find “centers of infinite


strengths” than at meetings? Over the past decade, I have had the good fortune to work with David on a number of projects using Appreciative Inquiry with associations.


www.pcma.org


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108  |  Page 109  |  Page 110  |  Page 111  |  Page 112  |  Page 113  |  Page 114  |  Page 115  |  Page 116  |  Page 117  |  Page 118  |  Page 119  |  Page 120  |  Page 121  |  Page 122  |  Page 123  |  Page 124  |  Page 125  |  Page 126  |  Page 127  |  Page 128  |  Page 129  |  Page 130  |  Page 131  |  Page 132  |  Page 133  |  Page 134  |  Page 135  |  Page 136  |  Page 137  |  Page 138  |  Page 139  |  Page 140  |  Page 141  |  Page 142  |  Page 143  |  Page 144  |  Page 145  |  Page 146  |  Page 147  |  Page 148