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James Gardner Introduces Generative Thinking at the 2007 UCP Annual Conference

AT the 2007 UCP Annual Conference, James Gardner, Ph.D., President and CEO of CQL, and Renee Pietrangelo, President and CEO of ANCOR, co-presented, “Organizational Transformation: Bridging the Gap Between Paper and Reality.” Gardner and Pietrangelo discussed UCP’s Big Sky Project and the role of Generative Thinking in transforming organizations. The UCP Big Sky Project is a national effort to create a new vision of the future for people with disabilities. The project is designed to raise public awareness about the serious challenges that remain for people with disabilities and develop strategies, initiatives, programs and public policy to address them.

Generative Thinking requires looking at the nature of a problem before solving the problem. It is a management planning method for deciding what to pay attention to, what it means, and what to do about it.

Gardner and Pietrangelo demonstrated how this type of visionary thinking requires the actions and responsibilities of organizational management and Board members. These two national leaders shared their experiences and what they have learned as transformation has taken place in their own organizations. CQL recently challenged its Board of Directors to think generatively about the question, “From what position will CQL lead in the year 2015?”