As a facilitator and evangelist of civil discourse, it gives me no pleasure to say that civil discourse feels dead – at least in national politics. The general national malaise that we now read and hear about (depression, drug and alcohol abuse) has happened before, so I’m going to believe we’ll get through it like… read more →
In an age of unchecked, professional propaganda, keeping people on edge and jumping at boogiemen and shadows is a very useful strategy. It works because we suck at judging things to be true or not. It helps to better understand where conspiracy theories come from. Read More …
We spend a lot of time thinking about how people think…or not. Or more precisely how people feel as opposed to think. It’s often tough for thinking people to wrap their heads around people’s emotions and feelings, and apparently Bill and Elon think/feel the same way. But I think (feel) you’ll find the graphic that… read more →
Growing up in America’s cheese state and having lived, and then worked, all across this country has shown me that people, although similar in many ways, are weirdly different in specific parts of the U.S. It appears that we have three very different personalities: friendly and conventional, relaxed and creative, and temperamental and uninhibited. Where… read more →
A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood is a lovely, thoughtful film. Whether you or your kids grew up watching Mr. Rogers or not, go see it. Especially this holiday season, given our current state of public discourse and general political discombobulation and the work that we all do. You’ll feel better about the potential of… read more →
This story was penned by an experienced academic and practicing mediator, but everything in it really resonated for me and I thought you might like these six basic lessons.
Competence, integrity and empathy are key ingredients when it comes to who we trust, which explains why many people have a difficult time trusting those who hold power over us. Read More …
Roger Schank is a cognitive scientist who said, “Humans are not ideally set up to understand logic; they are ideally set up to understand stories.” The days of experts delivering data and facts to educate and motivate people are over. We love stories because we’re able to inject ourselves into them, we relate to what we’re hearing… read more →
You might also consider that aside from the bot-generated posts and the active campaign to game the online world, real people like being mad. Really. We’re wired to … kinda get off on being angry; it’s a dopamine kick, a feel-good release of endorphins. And it works extra well online.
If you’ve ever wondered if one of your more extrupulent (Yeah, I know there’s no such word … but it’s my newsletter) meeting attendees might be suffering from a lack of oxygen to the brain, we now have the answer – possibly. A recent study says “small rooms can build up heat and carbon monoxide… read more →