Dialogue and the Art of Thinking Together : A Pioneering Approach to Communicating in Business and in Life

As Aristotle put it long ago, human beings are distinguished from other species by our ability to use language. Yet too often, at our jobs and in our business, we don't listen to one another. Invested in our views, we explain when we should inquire. Caught up in our own preconceptions, we disguise our feelings and fears, and hide our very meaning. Our talk, in fact, drives us apart. In this engaging book, based on over ten years of research with corporations, managers, business and community leaders, William Isaacs, the director of the Dialogue Project at MIT, shows how problems between managers and employees, or 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 Shell, Intel, Motorola, Hewlett Packard and other companies, Dr. Isaacs widens the ways dialogue can be (and has been) applied to bridge the communication gap in organizations and Communities.