Conversations can be critical and destructive or they can be generative and productive. This book shows how to guarantee your conversations will help people organizations and communities flourish. Conversations are at the core of how we interact. We all know that conversations influence us, but we rarely stop to think about how much impact they have on our well-being and our ability to thrive. This book shows how Appreciative Inquiry (AI)—one of the most widely used new approaches for fostering positive change for individuals, groups organizations and communities—can help everyone communicate better and flourish in all areas of their lives. Stavros and Torres spell out 2 practices and 5 principles to create great conversations. Each chapter is built around real-life stories of people using these practices and principles to strengthen relationships and generate possibilities for a future that works for everyone.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 141-142) and index.

Shifting conversations -- What kind of conversations are you having? -- Two simple appreciative practices -- What's driving your conversation? -- Scaling up great conversations -- It's not magic, it's science -- Any time, any place, any situation.