The Positive Core

Definition

The Positive Core is the organization's store of wisdom, knowledge, successful strategies, positive attitudes, best practices, skills, resources, and capabilities. It includes business strengths, core competencies, innovations, social capital, financial assets, organizational achievements, and visions of possibility. Unlike a traditional needs assessment (which catalogs deficiencies), mapping the positive core reveals the life-giving potential of the organization—the foundation upon which sustainable transformation is built.

In the Book

The book explains that attention and inquiry both strengthen and augment the positive core. As writer Henry Miller observed, "The moment one gives close attention to anything, even a blade of grass, it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself." The book catalogs what may be included: business best practices, core competencies, elevated thoughts, embedded knowledge, financial assets, innovations and patents, organizational wisdom, vital traditions, positive emotions, product strengths, relational resources, social capital, strategic opportunities, technical assets, values, and visions of possibility.

Cap Gemini Ernst & Young consultant Jane Farthing facilitated two large federal agencies merging their libraries. With only two days, she conducted appreciative interviews between the two staffs, then together they mapped the positive core of their joint library system. People who had initially been skeptical—even resistant to the merger—witnessed the recognition of each other's capacities and integrated resources. Skepticism gave way to enthusiasm. They laminated their positive core map as a visual reminder of "the best of who they are and all that they have jointly to offer their customers." This tangible artifact of strengths shifted the entire emotional and psychological tenor of the integration.

The book emphasizes that discovering the positive core is not about denying problems or limitations. Rather, it's about identifying what actually gives life to the organization and building from there. Once the positive core is articulated and amplified—through appreciative interviews, shared storytelling, and narrative analysis—the organization shifts its energy from repairing what's broken to amplifying what works.

Why It Matters

This concept reframes organizational assessment and improvement strategy. Instead of the traditional approach (measure gap between current state and desired state, then implement solutions to close the gap), positive core mapping reveals what capabilities and assets already exist that could be activated, amplified, or connected differently. This is load-bearing because it changes the basis of strategic choice: instead of "What must we fix?" the question becomes "What already works that we should do more of?" In domains beyond organizations—education, community development, personal growth—the same principle applies: assessing and building from existing strengths often proves more generative than deficit remediation. It also addresses a psychological reality: people and organizations have finite energy, and directing that energy toward amplifying strengths produces more momentum and engagement than directing it toward fixing weaknesses.