What's an A-Idea?

An A-Idea is simply a bright idea that came about by appreciative intelligence.  

Here's one:  Coca-Cola. In the late 1800's, pharmacist Asa Candler saw something unique in a failing headache remedy. He:

• reframed - saw the tonic as a consumer beverage,
• appreciated - focused on the drink's great taste (instead of its worthless pharmaceutical properties)
• envisioned how proving its great taste to hundreds of people could create a wildly successful business.

Here's another:  The Union Project. People said anyone who would take on a formerly abandoned, century-old building with a year's operating budget of $12,000 was crazy. The restoration of its dilapidated stained glass windows alone was a million-dollar job. But the Union Project - a nonprofit that wanted to transform its downtown Pittsburgh neighborhood with a special community center - took on the challenge. Thanks to an ingenious idea, five years later it has completed two-thirds of the window restoration (that's about $667,000) without doing a dollar of damage to its budget.   

Its board, staff and an artist saw the stained glass as beautiful but worn masterpieces for which people would pay to learn to restore. They:

• reframed - saw the windows as potential renovated masterpieces
• appreciated - focused on the windows as a source of income and as materials for stained glass renovation classes, not as a liability 
• envisioned how community members' tuition fees could pay for the artist's time and expertise, removal and installation of the windows, and their in-class practice would provide the hands on effort to restore the windows.

Ultimately, the Union Project reaped successful results beyond their finances and physical property.  The center gained a multitude of new supporters. After students spent 40 hours working on a window, they felt a proud connection to the building and the project. They showed their windows to their friends, who also became community center supporters.

Appreciative Intelligence - You've Got It! (And you can expand it for further success.)

Appreciative intelligence (term coined by Professor Tojo Thatchenkery at George Mason University) is the ability to see the mighty oak in the acorn.  It's more important to success than pure subject matter expertise, IQ or resources at hand. 

Discover the secret ability behind today's most creative and successful people - the ability to reveal the hidden possibilities within even the most apparently unpromising situation. See the mighty oak in the acorn.