Tojo Thatchenkery, Associate Professor of Organizational Development and Knowledge Management at SPP, has co-authored a new book, “Appreciative Intelligence: Seeing the Mighty Oak in the Acorn” (Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2006) with Carol Metzker, a contributing editor for “Investor Relations Update” who got her Master’s degree in Organizational Learning from SPP.

Their book, released this April, has an exciting premise. It claims that the secret to success lies in something that everyone has the ability to do: People must reframe reality to reveal the hidden potential within even the most apparently unpromising present. By looking at a diverse range of success stories presented in their book, the authors extract the lessons to be learned about how organizations can enjoy higher levels of innovation, more productive employees, greater ability to adapt to changes, and, ultimately, greater profit.

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“I got absorbed in understanding the phenomenal growth of information technology related to entrepreneurialism in the Silicon Valley and the rest of America [in the late 1990's],” Thatchenkery writes in the preface to his book, explaining how he became interested in his topic. “I came across entrepreneurs who had a unique ability to recognize hidden talent in individuals and seize business opportunities in the market. These individuals also knew how to put the pieces together to make their vision a reality. Having trained in the field of Psychology ... I began to see an Appreciative Intelligence in these entrepreneurs. I believed they had an ability or capacity to reframe reality to bring out the best from others and the environment. Once I conceptualized this notion of Appreciative Intelligence, it was easy to see how it differed from other types of intelligences and abilities.”

As Dean Kingsley Haynes reported to the SPP community, the volume was chosen in February by the Harvard Business Review for their 2006 Recommended Book List.

You can visit the book’s web page at http://www.appreciativeintelligence.com/ or view the book on Amazon.