Our proposal for the 2012 WAIC was accepted. Next stop, Belgium. 
The Center for Appreciative Inquiry, a branch of the Company of Experts, is pleased to announce that its proposal, “The Macon Miracle: Connecting Strengths, Reinventing Education, and Helping Children Flourish”, was accepted for the 2012 World Appreciative Inquiry Conference in Ghent, Belgium.
This year’s World Appreciative Inquiry Conference (WAIC) emphasizes Appreciative Inquiry (AI) as “a theory and practice of connecting people and generating new possibilities”. In 2011, we had the opportunity to work with Bibb County School District in Macon, Georgia. …

Source: New York Times
January 24, 2012
In the past, workers with average skills, doing an average job, could earn an average lifestyle. But, today, average is officially over. Being average just won’t earn you what it used to. It can’t when so many more employers have so much more access to so much more above average cheap foreign labor, cheap robotics, cheap software, cheap automation and cheap genius. Therefore, everyone needs to find their extra — their unique value contribution that makes them stand out in whatever is their field of …

Source: Wall Street Journal
January 24, 2012
Many job seekers have long suspected their online employment applications disappear into a black hole, never to be seen again. Their fears may not be far off the mark, as more companies rely on technology to winnow out less-qualified candidates.
Recruiters and hiring managers are overwhelmed by the volume of résumés pouring in, thanks to the weak job market and new tools that let applicants apply for a job with as little as one mouse click. The professional networking website LinkedIn recently introduced an “apply now” …

Source: Inc.com
January 23, 2012
Setting the right price for products and services is often one of the more challenging decisions any business faces. Price too low and you can leave significant profits on the table. Price too high and you may see declining sales as your most price-sensitive customers desert you. There are pitfalls on either side of the narrow line on pricing.
Read Full Article>>

Source: CBS News
January 9, 2012 at 7:22 AM
Entrepreneurs and business leaders each have their place in the business world. It’s the entrepreneur that forges the path and the leader that turns it into a highway. Even more rare, is the entrepreneurial leader that changes our world. Think Steve Jobs (Apple), Yvon Chouinard (Patagonia), Herb Kelleher (Southwest Airlines), Bill Gates (Microsoft), Henry Ford (Ford Motor Co.), Sam Walton (Walmart), and dozens of others. Those entrepreneurs not only changed our lives but changed life as we know it. Read Full Article>>

Source: CNN Money
January 10, 2012, 11:17 AM
In a complex business environment, innovative companies must move from a guru model to one based on team leadership. Are we living in a post-CEO world? This is a particularly timely question, and not just because I pose it not long after the loss of tech pioneer and visionary Steve Jobs. Read Full Story >

Source: Forbes
January 11, 2012, 9:23am
More often than not, great accomplishments cause individuals and organizations to become comfortable with their way of doing things. Businesses turn static. Workers turn their focus inward. Even the most dynamic of organizations can turn complacent, thinking that what they are doing is right, that there is no need to change, regardless of what’s happening outside…Read Full Story.

Earlier this week I came across an article written by Sol Stern, an author for The Daily Beast, titled, “Still ‘Lying to Children’: How No Child Left Behind Corrupted Education”. In the article, Stern discusses the “No Child Left Behind Act” (NCLB) – enacted 10 years ago this week. He states that, “Expecting all students to be college ready is a hopeless utopian goal that inevitably produces test-score inflation and bad results”.
Jim Pulliam, the Vice President of Company of Experts and a former community college president, is passionate about student …

Editors: Jeanie Cockell and Joan McArthur-Blair
Working Title: Inclusive Spaces: Using Appreciative Processes to Transform Social Structures
For AI Practitioner ~ August 2012 Issue
Focus of the Issue:
The August 2012 issue of the AI Practitioner will focus on how the practice of Appreciative Inquiry (AI) fosters and opens inclusive spaces in organizations of all kinds. We invite Appreciative Inquiry practitioners to share articles, stories, case studies, reflections, art, images, poetry, research, models and theory regarding creating inclusive spaces. We are particularly interested in how Appreciative Inquiry has generated those inclusive spaces with emancipatory …

The excitement from the crowd at the Macon Centreplex was palpable as more than 4,200 community members, parents, teachers, Board members, local businesses, and dignitaries from Macon, Georgia convened on October 10, 2011, to complete part two of a two-day appreciative inquiry strategic  planning summit designed to reinvent Bibb County school district and ensure
that every student flourishes.
Superintendent Dr. Romain Dallemand envisions becoming the best school district in the nation. Deemed the “Macon Miracle,” Dr. Dallemand contracted with several facilitators from the Center for Appreciative Inquiry to reinvent the school system …