Artificial Intelligence is a smart computer giving you answers. Appreciative Inquiry is a wise human offering your questions. Two forms of AI, both valuable, but offering very different perspectives. David Cooperrider, who co-founded the Appreciative Inquiry method, suggests, “Human systems move in the direction of the questions we ask…We live in worlds our questions create. A question, thoughtfully-conceived, can illuminate a room, a company, a life.
I’ve been lucky enough to spend some time with Oprah’s favorite living poet, Mark Nepo. Mark’s not a “know-it-all,” he’s a “poet-all” as he uses poetic thinking to ask beautiful questions. Whenever I sit down with this man, I come away feeling like his inquiries were more like a lantern than a flashlight. They helped me to see the bigger picture.
There’s nothing artificial about Mark as evidenced by this lovely video of him. Mark teaches twice a year at MEA and his next workshop is “The Power of Friendship” September 16-21 in Santa Fe.
-Chip