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The World Needs Dialogue! Professional Dialogue for the Benefit of Society

Peter Garrett

By 2015, the dialogue field was "fragmented and competitive"; anyone could claim the title Practitioner. Peter Garrett traces the Academy's formation: from a 1984 Cotswolds weekend with David Bohm to an international professional body with standards.

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Peter Garrett traces the Academy's origin from a 1984 Cotswolds weekend with David and Saral Bohm, Don and Anna Factor, and Peter and Jenny Garrett. The approach was popularised through Peter Senge's *Fifth Discipline* and Bill Isaacs' book, but two decades later the field was "largely fragmented and competitive"; anyone could call themselves a Dialogue Practitioner. In 2015, Garrett and Jane Ball convened an inaugural meeting; attendees were surprised by each other's work (over 30,000 people trained in Sweden alone). The Academy formed as a professional body with international Trustees, annual conferences, published working papers, and practitioner accreditation. Conference discussion focused less on roots than sustainability: Virginia participants noted dialogue becoming "first nature" in their agency, enthused about extending it to schools, churches, families. One practitioner: "The world does need dialogue!" Garrett reflects: the past seven years established the Academy; the next seven may build a "School of Dialogue" for professional organisational and social work.

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