In 1988, there were more than 350,000 cases of polio in 125 nations. Last year, there were fewer than 2,000 cases in only a dozen countries. The 99% reduction in cases worldwide was the result of a program initiated by Rotarians - a volunteer civic group of business and community leaders.

If the same vaccine, medical knowledge and expertise existed for others, what led an organization of predominantly nonmedical volunteers face and succeed in the fight against polio?

These Rotarians: 
- Perceived polio as an organizational challenge, instead of as a medical problem,
- Focused on and appreciated Rotarians' business and organizational skills and resources - communication, refrigeration, transportation, ducation and finances.
- Envisioned how those skills and resources could be applied to the challenge: to keep vaccine cold, get doctors to necessary locations, teach families about the disease and its prevention, raise funds, and provide the helping hands of a million volunteers - the number of Rotarians in their worldwide network.

Rotarians put their appreciative intelligence to work. And they came up with an A-Idea for battling polio.

Quoting from the book, Appreciative Intelligence: Seeing the Mighty Oak in the Acorn: Appreciative Intelligence is linked to humans' need for meaning, vision and value. ...It is found behind creating new possibilities and seeing the steps necessary to realize them. It allows us to dream and strive.