36. Dialogue Leadership Institute

From our beginnings as human beings, there has been a spiritual force that motivated people, communities, leaders and institutions. It is beyond us, yet it guides and empowers us to live with principles that sustain and enrich our lives. Religion has a bumpy history; however, continuity has persisted based on the needs met and the benefits discovered in the practice of a faith in a transcendent reality.

Alcoholics Anonymous is arguably the most successful recovery program in the world. Bill Wilson and Bob Smith founded it in 1935. Its members are anonymous. It does not have a bureaucratic, hierarchical structure. Members are understood, listened to, encouraged, challenged, supported, and loved. AA is nonprofessional, self-supporting, multiracial, apolitical, and available almost everywhere. “Membership is open to anyone who wants to do something about his or her drinking problem.”

The total quality movement (TQM) sparked the economic revolution in Japan following WWII and spread across the world. Where seriously applied, TQM’s applications generated better products, services, and profit. Competition and leadership contributed to TQM’s progress. In addition, the applications that succeeded and endured were built on the dialogical engagement of all who needed to be involved.

The Dialogue Leadership Institute can be another example of an enterprise that is sustained because it meets a need like religion, alcoholism, and quality.

· The Institute needs to reach, enroll, and support leaders who will practice and advocate for dialogue.

· The Institute needs the long-term support of a foundation that extends beyond the support of an individual and short-term annual budgets.

How might a foundation approach this mission?

1. Create and sustain the Dialogue Leadership Institute with an appropriate budget.

2. Provide a quarterly think-tank for invited leaders at which they will learn of the work of the Institute’s initiatives, be invited to support those initiatives, and encouraged to join the Institute’s Dialogue Leadership Network.

3. Provide an umbrella for organizations promoting dialogue. Sponsor a forum for these groups to dialogue about what they have in common and how they might use their combined resources to advance this mission.

4. Initiate articles on dialogue, including examples of its successful applications, for media publications.

5. Develop dialogue resources available to schools and colleges for courses and workshops.

6. Identify, equip, and facilitate the availability of effective advocates of dialogue for TV, radio, and social media.

7. Generate research on the practice of dialogue including big data research.

8. Seek international opportunities to promote dialogue.

9. Employ interns for the Institute:

a. Two-year term (to maintain fresh and high energy leadership)

b. Job responsibilities to include: direct, promote, and facilitate Institute programs

c. Alternate between recent MBA graduates and recent Special Forces retirees

For more about this dialogue mission, please visit: https://dialogue4us.com.