Feels pretty good to hear that, doesn’t it? Validation is something that humans crave regardless of who they are. Not getting some level of validation slowly builds resentment, of which we seem to have an ample supply these days. In helping people understand and deal with emotional, angry, frightened people (also of which we have an ample supply these days), we counsel clients in ways to avoid getting dragged into polarized debates. Because once those with power start debating and attacking people with less power, the powerful almost automatically lose by way of the David vs. Goliath factor. You’ll be branded as the bully, which erodes your trust and credibility even more so. The objective is to find and harvest that tiny germ of truth that you can almost always find buried even in the most ludicrous of arguments. When you validate people and that germ of truth and avoid attacking them personally, it starts building an all-important and elusive relationship.