And by you I mean we – we’re all human, different, and irrational sometimes. And most of the time we have to operate in a (alleged) rational, objective, fact-based world. The world of our humanness and the world of reason frequently clash, which can make it tough to work with ...
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The ‘Outrage’ course that we teach explains attributes that cause people to be more or less angry, fearful or trusting of you and your organization. One is whether or not people deal with individuals or institutions that actually respond to them. If you’ve tried lately to find a real human ...
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The world and working in it will continue to evolve at an astonishing pace with technology growth and artificial intelligence (AI). Oxford economics says that 47% of today’s jobs will be gone in 10 years. And that means that essential skills – empathy, communication, speaking, decision-making and good judgement – will ...
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In spite of what Mom said, I frequently ride in cars with strangers. I travel a lot so I’ve come to rely on and trust Lyft and Uber. Now, normally I’m not a very good passenger – I much prefer to be the one driving. But I’ve become comfortable with ...
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An 11-year-long study in the journal Science corroborated by six independent fact checking organizations found that false news stories spread faster, farther, deeper and more broadly than truthful news. Fake political news is most likely to spread. The problem is that what’s true is often boring or hard to understand, ...
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I really do try to steer clear of the pure politics of public policy issues but it’s impossible to ignore the Valentine’s Day massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, the gutsy response of the #NeverAgain surviving students and now the blowback of people demonizing those courageous,articulate kids online and ...
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Digital communication has truly transformed public participation but it’s not an automatic or comprehensive solution to working with the public. It does not solve everything. Thus, it is important to choose your digital tools wisely in order to promote the collaborative process.
When I look at ...
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OK, let’s just say really good facilitation. If you’re looking for some tried, true and methodical suggestions for handling groups, we think you’ll find this useful.
Being called an expert in anything always sounds a little blustery, but developing real expertise is always an honorable goal. Expert vs. expertise...
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Public policy and politics have vastly different objectives, but are now obviously mixed in the minds and perceptions of voters and citizens. Authentic public participation is the path to recovery....
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| Engaging people starts with communicating and connecting and that’s just not easy or intuitive for a lot of people. You might think that it’d be easier to do with people that you know and work with everyday, but even that isn’t necessarily true, so imagine how tough it is for |
