How is it that some people seem to have great relationships and success in their lives while others do not? Why are some organizations successful at sustaining positive change while others make a great start but let it fade away? It rests on the dynamics of their relationships. Creating positive dynamics and sustained success requires continuous awareness and informed appreciative action. Dynamic Relationships: Unleashing the Power of Appreciative Inquiry in Daily Living invites us to step into the appreciative paradigm where the principles governing our actions and relationships offer a means for increased value and meaning in our lives and our communities of work and play. Dynamic Relationships offers us the opportunity to practice these principles through cycles of reflection and action in ways that empower us to become a force for creating and sustaining life-affirming relationships and success in daily living.
Industry Reviews
"Dynamic Relationships signals the next generation of Appreciative Inquiry.
It builds on the most powerful and mysterious of social constructionist
principles, the relational nature of our selves. This is a powerful
and comprehensive approach to connecting deeply and joyously with our
most desired future."
~Daniel K. Saint, Ph.D., Former Partner, Deloitte
"To my knowledge this is the first book in the field of Appreciative Inquiry
that combines theory and practice in such a fine way. It also makes
provocative reading as the authors take a very clear stand in the dialogue
whether AI will change your life or not: it will. Working through this
book will increase your awareness of yourself, of your relations, and how
to grow and enrich these relations. Taking this clear position not only
makes this book refreshing as it fires up the dialogue around AI, but it
also helps us readers-in a very practical way-to discover the next steps
on the road that leads to the discovery of the positive core of ourselves
and of others we are in relation with. Jackie Stavros and Cheri Torres
have produced a challenging book that will inspire many of us to travel
further in our search for the very best in our relationships!"
~Joep de Jong, Director Learning Solutions Europe, BT,
Amsterdam, Holland
"Knowing both authors professionally, I am delighted they wrote this
book. Jackie Stavros and Cheri Torres live the principles of Dynamic
Relationships in their work and families. I am eager to get my hands on
this book as a resource for clients and colleagues focused on positive
change in health care.
~Susan O. Wood, Principal, Corporation for Positive Change
"I thoroughly enjoyed reading your manuscript. I got several good ideas
relating to our graduate program and my own writing, not to mention
some possibilities for changing my relationship with others. Thanks! This
book does two things: first, by addressing life outside organizations, it
helps make more people aware of the idea of living in the appreciative
paradigm; and second, it helps make the idea real and useful to anyone
who chooses to act on it. Jackie and Cheri have thus put before us a potentially
life-changing tool that we can use to fashion our future in relationship
with others beyond organizational life. The rest is up to us."
~John M. Peters, Professor and Coordinator,
Doctoral Program in Collaborative Learning,
University of Tennessee
"Cheri and Jackie invite us to be more mindful, self-aware, of the impact
our daily conversations have on our personal and professional relationships.
They also give us many experiential exercises to help us create
conversations that support more positive and dynamic relationships. Dynamic
Relationships is a practical contribution to the growing literature
of Appreciative Inquiry."
~Nancy Stetson, Ed.D., Center for Appreciative Inquiry
"Stavros and Torres have made an exceptional contribution with this practical
and thoughtful book. This piece takes Appreciative Inquiry beyond
the organizational life into your life. It's an exciting and expansive relational
paradigm to live each day."
~Dr. Marge Schiller, President, The Positive Change Corps
"A fantastic piece of work! The activities and exercises make this approach
so real to live into. I especially found the briefcase exercise very
helpful because it will get me home on time for dinner with my family."
~David Gregorich, Manager of Electronics,
Macomb Community College
