[Ailist] AI in Schools

[Terri McNichol]

Dear Daniel,
I enjoyed reading about the work you are doing in Hong Kong with Chinese teachers. Actually, the resistance you are experiencing from the teachers is not all that different from the resistance encountered here in the US--"all sounds nice, but just how practical is it" or "we need something quick and really don't have time in our busy schedules for touchy, feely stuff."

I think Appreciative Inquiry can dovetail very well with Chinese Philosophy particularly Confucianism especially now that Confucius' popularity is on the rise these days. Confucius refined the concept of junzi, the profound person, that it is attainable by all not just the elite. Mencius went even further that it is a recovery process as well: as children we are sensitive to fellow human beings but that sensitivity gets socialized out of us by the time we are adults. The process of becoming truly human is the task of all of adulthood particularly the recovery of xin--the heart mind. Without it we are like ordinary animals that rely on instinct alone, whereas the distinguishing feature that makes us truly human is the ability to feel empathy for a fellow human being. That to me is the positive core of Appreciative Inquiry that we take the time to deeply engage with a fellow human being and become one. In a nutshell, humans have cosmic abilities and are co-creators of the universe in the true Confucian sense of what it means to be truly human. All to often we neglect these cosmic abilities of which humans are endowed. Do you agree?

Terri McNichol


Futurist Research for Ren Associates
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Telephone +1.609.371.5354
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tmcnichol at renassociates.com

Just published! See my Appreciative Inquiry case study in The Sustainable Enterprise Fieldbook. Greenleaf Publishing, UK, and AMACOM in North America. Jeana Wirtenberg et al, ed.
http://www.greenleaf-publishing.com/productdetail.kmod?productid=2689

Presentations:
"Art or Science: OD in China" at the Ninth Annual Sharing Day, May 3, 2007, New Jersey Organizational Development (OD)Network, NJ. Co-presenter Wei Huang, Ph.D.

"Inverting Western business models: why museum practices are key to a new management paradigm." 2nd International Committee on Management of International Council of Museums (International Council of Museums standing committee on management. INTERCOM/ICOM) Meeting 2006 "New Roles and Missions of Museums" Taipei, Taiwan, November 2-4, 2006.

"The Art of Leading the Museum." 4th Annual Critical Management Studies Conference, Cambridge, UK, July 4-6, 2005.

Article
"Creative marketing strategies in small museums: up close and innovative," in International Journal of Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Marketing Volume 10 Issue 4 - November 2005 (199 - 287) Special Issue: Creativity and the Nonprofit Marketing Organization.