We’re on the cusp of the most consequential U.S. presidential election of our lifetimes. It’s hard to comprehend how we’ve possibly come to the ridiculous but clear choice that we’ll make in November. But the question is obvious: will we live in an uglier, hotter, meaner, dirtier, less healthy, less ...
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There’s a human trait that all of us have to some degree, with the exception of people with antisocial personality disorder – socio- and psychopaths – but we don’t often recognize that it’s a trait that needs to be nurtured and developed. Empathy is embedded in us and one of ...
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Helping people understand new information, as we suggested in the opening of this newsletter, requires getting them to first just consider what you’re trying to convey to them. At a time when all of us are bombarded with online and traditional media constantly competing for our attention, getting people’s attention ...
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Nobody put it more eloquently than Sly and the Family Stone: people are different. (Feel free to substitute your own adjectives; just try to keep it clean.) We communicate in different styles and when we’re agitated, concerned, scared or pissed off, people can adopt refreshingly new styles which might ...
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For news junkies like me, these are the times that try (wo)men’s souls. We’re at the height of the most contentious political campaign of our lives and the news business is in a ratings, readership and ad revenue frenzy. Because of the unprecedented level of lies and propaganda routinely ...
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Neither I nor my partners have ever claimed to be mediators in a formal and legal sense, although we do routinely facilitate multi-party mediation for projects. We teach and coach this work as well as doing it, so professional development is always at the top of mind for us, and ...
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Research done for several of the past years has shown a general demise in empathy. There’s no clear answer to why, but it may have something to do with the adage that says, hurt people hurt people, and a lot of people feel hurt. We’ve had a few moments ...
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I’m sure that you’re proficient with the overall do’s and don’ts of reaching, working with and engaging people in communities. But, fact is, that real success most often comes from the doing all of the little, seemingly innocuous things really right. Like, for instance, expressing authentic gratitude to the people ...
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It’s a common and sadly effective tactic to label your adversaries as less than human. Propaganda and the labeling of “others” to shape public opinion goes back to the Roman Empire when Julius Caesar called the Germanic tribes just a bunch of “poopy-pants.” (I paraphrase here.) It was ...
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It’s helpful to find hopeful signs during an often frustrating period of trying to engage communities that appear so separated by politics and culture. Philanthropic organizations are putting resources into mostly rural places where seeds of democracy can be planted and accomplishments are real....
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