We live in unsettled times. More bluntly, people are more consistently pi$$ed off than they used to be. We’re polarized; a third of us are suddenly vindicated and complacent, another third are apoplectic about the state of the republic, and who the hell knows about the other third – the 90 million people who couldn’t be bothered to vote in the most recent election. The future is anything but clear and rosy. Dealing with this mix of people will be challenging.

The work isn’t easy and it isn’t always automatically successful. A Japanese proverb quips, “fall down seven times and get up eight.” We also have to recognize the fact that those of us who do the work of dealing with unsettled people are pretty often unsettled ourselves. I was coaching a group of really smart and talented folks recently and their primary concern was how to better handle their own emotions and anger when facilitating emotionally charged people. Consider this.