Featured
Accessing Genuine Dialogue
William Issacs
The Watercooler, July/August 2012
How can dialogue help us navigate volatility and uncertainty? In this provocative article, William Isaacs makes the argument for genuine dialogue that emerges from a true sense of identity and purpose and opens a window into a source of deeper creativity. Through genuine dialogue we find much more than new ways of talking together—we discover new ways to lead.
Developing First-Level Leaders
Andreas Priestland and Robert Hanig
Harvard Business Review, 2005
Initially offered at BP in 2002, the First-Level Leader Program has been offered to over 8000 managers since its inception. Particularly remarkable about this story is that, before the Dialogos-developed FLL Program, there was no coherent training option at the managerial level, though there were over 10,000 supervisors across the company. The process of developing this program, including obstacles faced in creating a unifying training solution for a corporation literally spread around the globe, is a case study in reservations, resistance and renewal:
The Art of Dialogue: How To Improve Your Conversation Skills By Becoming a Better Speaker and Listener
Paul Roberts
Fast Company, 1999
This article explores the stages and overarching structures of conversation as it evolves from the cursory to the creative.
Dialogic Leadership
William Isaacs
The Systems Thinker, 1999
“‘Dialogic leadership’ is the term I have given to a way of leading that consistently uncovers, through conversation, the hidden creative potential in any situation.”
This article, which originally appeared in the February 1999 issue of Pegasus Communications’ The Systems Thinker, coined the now-familiar term that characterizes a unique and visionary kind of leader: a “dialogic leader” is one who can, in Bill Isaac’s words, “(1) evoke people’s genuine voices, (2) listen deeply, (3) hold space for and respect as legitimate other people’s views, and (4) broaden awareness and perspective.” This is a must-read for anyone who wishes to make real the link between true leadership and dialogic practice.
Getting Creativity Back into Corporate Decision Making
Michael Jones
Journal For Quality Participation, 1997
In this article—one of a series of “thinking pieces” exploring the link between creativity and corporate livelihood—Michael Jones guides his readers into new territory beyond the certainty of technique and performance, and into the less secure but more rewarding area of trust in perception and practice.
Dialogue: A Proposal
David Bohm, Donald Factor and Peter Garrett
“We propose that, with the aid of a little close attention, even that which we call rational thinking can be seen to consist largely of responses conditioned and biased by previous thought.”
This seminal, short work by three pioneers in the modern dialogue movement outlines not only the rationale behind this powerful way of thinking together, but also a hands-on approach to setting up and conducting dialogue sessions.
Dialogue and the Transformation of Memory
Peter Garrett
This short essay by Peter Garrett succinctly outlines the roots of modern dialogue and provides several examples of the craft at work in several diverse and challenging situations.
Conversations That Changed the World
William Isaacs
Strategy & Business, 2017
With a well-designed dialogue “container,” you can create an atmosphere of shared awareness that can transform an organization – or a country.
Beauty Parlors, Barbershops, and Boardrooms
Leslie F. (“Skip”) Griffin Jr.
Strategy & Business, 2005
What leaders of corporate change can learn from the American civil rights movement.
For the past few years, I’ve made a good part of my living helping companies and organizations through sustained change and transformation. I fell into this profession when a friend invited me to sit in on a meeting with a group of experts on dialogue.
Dialogue and the Art of Thinking Together: A pioneering approach to communicating in business and in life
William Isaacs
Doubleday, 1999
In this seminal book, William Isaacs provides practical guidelines for one of the essential elements of true partnership—learning how to talk together in honest and effective ways. Dialogue reveals how problems between managers and employees, and between companies or divisions within a larger corporation, stem from an inability to conduct a successful dialogue.
4 Ways CEOs Can Conquer Short-Termism
Kate Isaacs, David Langstaff and Russell Eisenstat
Harvard Business Review, 2017
Dr. Kate Isaacs and co-authors David Langstaff and Russell Eisenstat describe in this HBR article their study of how to overcome the fixation with short-term returns, drawing insights from in-depth interviews with 25 successful CEOs.
This study was carried out through the Center for Higher Ambition Leadership, an organization which works, among other things, to “detail best practices from the field.”
Taken from the article: “A purpose-driven story of value creation that is clearly and powerfully told is a CEO’s first line of defense against short-term pressures. Once in place, it both generates commitment of employees and customers and puts the short term and the quarter in context as the immediate building blocks to longer-term goals.”
Six Strategies for Solving Complex, Unrelenting Problems
Kate Isaacs
Forbes, 2017
Dr. Kate Isaacs answers questions to Forbes magazine on how leaders today can tackle “wicked” problems.
What are “wicked” problems?
Taken from the article: “‘Wicked’ means hard to diagnose and involving multiple stakeholders and domains. Such problems are also relentless: solutions are temporary, as issues keep morphing into new problems.”
The Magic In The Middle
Elizabeth Debold, Juanita Brown, and William Isaacs
Evolve Magazine, 2017
In this “trialogue”, interviewer Elizabeth Debold speaks with the World Café founder Juanita Brown and dialogue expert William Isaacs about the possibilities and importance of the creative space between each of us. . .
Life Changing Conversations: 7 strategies for talking about what matters most
William Isaacs
Sarah Rozenthuler (Watkins, 2012)
So much in life hinges on the ability to say the right thing, at the right time, to the right person, in the right way. Expert psychologist and coach Sarah Rozenthuler provides a practical guide to having the kinds of conversations that will turn your life around, from negotiating with difficult neighbors to asking for a raise to ending a long-term relationship.