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Dialogue and the Art of Thinking Together: A Pioneering Approach to Communicating in Business and in Life » (1 ED)

Book cover image of Dialogue and the Art of Thinking Together: A Pioneering Approach to Communicating in Business and in Life by William Isaacs

Authors: William Isaacs, Peter Senge
ISBN-13: 9780385479998, ISBN-10: 0385479999
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: Crown Publishing Group
Date Published: September 1999
Edition: 1 ED

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Author Biography: William Isaacs

Book Synopsis

William Isaacs - founder of the Dialogue Project at MIT - shows how problems between managers and employees, and between companies or divisions within a larger corporation, stem from an inability to conduct a successful dialogue. He demonstrates that dialogue is more than just the exchange of words, but rather the embrace of different points of view - literally the art of thinking together. Through his work with Ford, Shell, Motorola, Hewlett-Packard, and other companies, Dr. Isaacs has expanded the ways that better-designed conversation can be (and has been) applied to bridge the communication gap in organizations and communities.

Table of Contents

Foreword
Introduction: The Fire of Conversation1
Pt. IWhat is Dialogue?
1A Conversation with a Center, Not Sides17
2Why We Think Alone and What We Can Do About It49
3The Timeless Way of Conversation70
Pt. IIBuilding Capacity for New Behavior
4Listening83
5Respecting110
6Suspending134
7Voicing159
Pt. IIIPredictive Intuition
8Patterns of Action185
9Overcoming Structural Traps203
Pt. IVArchitecture of the Invisible
10Setting the Container239
11Fields of Conversation252
12Convening Dialogue291
13The Ecology of Thought300
Pt. VWidening the Circle
14Dialogue and the New Economy321
15Cultivating Organizational and System Dialogue336
16Dialogue and Democracy360
17Taking Wholeness Seriously385
Notes404
Appendix: Diagrams418
Index421

Subjects