Inspired community needed to drive vision for sustainable change
Appreciative Inquiry transforms personal lives, careers of leaders
Friday July 10, 2009 -- Michelle Strutzenberger
Dhruba Acharya’s encounter with Appreciative Inquiry (AI) in 1996 changed his personal life and the direction of his career.

“When I reflect back, I can divide my way of living before 1996 and after 1996,” says Acharya, a resident of Nepal. “There has been a profound change in the way I ‘think, do and become.’”

A forestry researcher and educator at the time, Acharya attended an AI workshop organized through his workplace.
He was so intrigued he began learning more on his own, putting what he learned into practice in both his life and work.

His passion for AI grew, triggering a series of significant changes in his life, beginning with a career switch; he became an Organizational Development (OD) consultant practicing AI.
In 2001, he launched an OD consulting company that employs the AI approach.

In 2004, Acharya took on the role of chairperson of Imagine Nepal, a non-profit founded and operated on the AI paradigm as a means for change and development in Nepal.

In addition to altering the direction of his career, AI has had a tremendous impact on his personal life, says Acharya, noting he believes it has added much meaning to his life as well as enhanced his relationships.

“I feel that AI has greatly contributed in developing my personality and a kind of attraction among colleagues and professional network,” he says. 

Considering the transformation AI has effected in his life, it shouldn’t be a surprise that Acharya is a co-chair for the 2009 World Appreciative Inquiry Conference in Nepal.

The vision for the conference is to create a positive revolution for sustainable change.

Acharya says a community of inspired and transformed people is needed to realize that vision.

“Networks or communities need to be formed of people who have utilized their positive potentials, demonstrated extraordinariness,” says Acharya. “And these people, individually or in groups, need to inspire other people in doing more positive, enlightening and meaningful work.” 

Lindsey Godwin, also a conference co-chair, agrees that participants who are energized about AI is vital to making the vision real.

“We need a diverse and excited group of participants to come to the conference who are committed to not only sharing their own work, but also learning from each other,” says Godwin, whose life and career has also been significantly influenced by AI.

Having completed her PhD in Organizational Behavior at Case Western Reserve University, Godwin has worked on various AI projects with Dr. David Cooperrider and Dr. Ron Fry, two of the founders and thought-leaders of AI, for the past several years.

Godwin was also co-chair for the 2007 International AI Conference held in Orlando Florida. She was invited by Cooperrider to collaborate with co-chairs Acharya and Ganapati Ojha as well as other colleagues from Imagine Nepal to organize the upcoming world AI conference.

“My work with David and others in AI has truly had a profound impact on both my personal and professional life, as it becomes a way of being as much as it is a method for creating change,” says Godwin.

Her experiences with AI led her to shift her research focus to a strength-based approach to exploring morality and social responsibility in business.

Godwin refers to a quote by Albert Einstein, which Cooperrider often cites in describing how one develops an ‘appreciative eye’: "There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle."

“From my work with AI, I strive to live the latter,” says Godwin.

To learn more about the 2009 World Appreciative Inquiry Conference, visit www.2009worldaiconference.org.

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