Our Digital Challenge
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Sorry Doesn’t Have To Be the Hardest Word
Sincere apology is a necessary part of dealing with emotional people when those people have been wronged. How do you think Kevin Johnson did?...
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Once Upon a Presentation
A lot of government’s face time with the public often involves making presentations to groups in semi-formal public meeting settings. If the issue in question is not very controversial and the agency has earned and nurtured a level of trust with their public audience, there’s a good chance that people ...
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Ego is a Monster
Our courses on outrage spend time differentiating among true outrage, self interest and ego. Ego is one monster requiring special care. Here’s one mediator’s solution....
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What is Possible When Consensus is Impossible
Some of our clients’ problems seem hopeless, with consensus among the varying parties feeling inconceivable. But we’ve found, over time, that getting the parties together creates the atmosphere where much is possible....
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It Starts with Connections
Developing and nurturing dialogue has to start with communication and connecting. And that requires curiosity, empathy, finding core values, consistency and practice – lots of practice.
I think Alexander Graham Bell started us down this long, dark road of lousy communication. We have to blame somebody and he seems ...
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Dumb & Dumber
The “Curse of Knowledge” suggests that experts in almost any field find it difficult to communicate and connect with people who aren’t also expert or at least extremely knowledgeable. We help our clients bridge that communication gap, so I thought you’d appreciate this take on the subject....
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Beware the Trolls; They’re Us
We talk a lot in these emails about understanding and dealing with public conflict and anger but we don’t often get into the subject of online bullies and trolls. Fact is, humans are naturally wired to cooperate, but online anonymity is a game changer – trolls have nothing to lose ...
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It’s All About That Dialogue, No Trouble
This newsletter offers varying ideas and approaches for engaging and communicating better with the public, including presentations, words, (re)building trust, opposition, better meetings, conflict resolution and all the related subjects. But the real core of our (TPC’s) consulting and training practice is building and nurturing dialogue among people. Sometimes there’s ...
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People Power
For a while now, it’s seemed clear that public participation is under assault at the highest levels of U.S. government. Functioning democracies share power with the governed. Of course there are arguments that politicians are obligated to wield their power on behalf of the people who elected them, therefore public ...
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