The National Civic League is proposing to eliminate the current public comment processes – hearings and traditional public meetings. On face value, that sounds radically provocative, but in fact, they favor better, deliberative processes that allow for real public participation in the decisions that public officials grapple with. We’ve agreed ...
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Sarah Palin once said that “polls are only good for strippers and cross country skiers.” That’s a little harsh, but given the state of public opinion polling, she might not be the only person who thinks that these days. The public opinion measuring business has changed and continues to try ...
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Connecting with audiences is an often elusive objective. People are different; their existing knowledge, interests and attitudes vary. And the more that you know about them, the more likely you’ll be to connect with them. So before you embark on your next presentation, consider turning it up a notch....
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A recent piece in The Philadelphia Inquirer connects the plunge in newspaper readership to people’s completely false and wrong understanding and beliefs about the economy, public policy, the environment, public health and most other things that we all should know involving our government. To combat charisma without character, truth needs ...
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People pay closest attention and respond to the things that scare them; we’re just wired that way. So, the people who want to get your attention and keep you responding to whatever they’re selling will continually tell you things to make you believe you’re going to lose something or get ...
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Making publicly acceptable decisions in a healthy democracy almost always comes down to building consensus through some kind of negotiation. And negotiation is a skill that most people can develop and improve. It starts with learning everything you can about the needs of whomever you’re negotiating with, getting the ...
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Stories make facts memorable. Research suggests that people forget nearly half of what they learn within 20 minutes (80% is gone in a month), but stories help fix that problem. So, getting people to understand and remember what you want them to know about whatever you’re planning or doing takes ...
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Intentional disinformation, lies, fake news and just plain bull$%&# will be a bigger part of our future than it’s been part of our past, and artificial intelligence (AI) makes it easier and more widespread. As useful and beneficial as AI can and will be, everything has consequences – AI makes ...
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You’ve let me scratch my rock & roll itch in this blog, but I thought you might be interested in Rolling Stone Country magazine’s picks for their 200 Greatest Country Songs. Country music has been described as three chords and the truth. Start with #200 and don’t let ...
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I suspect that you’re aware of the five stages of grief (denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance), which actually don’t just occur in some kind of prescribed, neat, predictable order; it’s more complex than that. (Trust me.) But conflict can also be defined in five stages....
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