Some of the toughest conversations that you might have right now could be around the current state of politics and the actions emanating from the White House. But the suggestions here are just as valid and useful for any hard conversation that you may find yourself facing. Confronting people with ...
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I just had my annual pilgrimage spending several days teaching a class of young, incredibly smart people who represent the future and, as usual, I learned more from them than they did from me and I left energized and hopeful. These were graduate and PhD students from several nations normally ...
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In ending a phone conversation with a longtime buddy the other day, he suggested we meet in a couple of weeks for … “a beer and (to) swap some lies.” Swapping lies is a pretty common term that’s defined as a lighthearted, playful conversation of some fact, fiction, exaggeration and ...
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Before I cancelled my subscription (in a hissy-fit protest against billionaire owner Jeff Bezos), I found the facts of the following from the Washington Post: Michael Protzman, a former Seattle demolition contractor, attracted a following of QAnon conspiracy believers who were so devoted to his prophecies that hundreds of them ...
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You’ve heard it said that power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. A very wise young friend of mine once corrected that statement for me by explaining that the better explanation is in fact that power attracts the corruptible.

I believe that he was right, and there’s no shortage ...
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Behavioral science research, surveys and empirical evidence tell us that we’re living in uniquely unsettled, stressful times. Duh. Navigating and surviving will require courage, patience, self-care and understanding the triggers that make each of us particularly nuts. Here are some thoughts to help you manage your own emotions in the ...
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It’s well established that people tend to think they know a lot more than they actually do – we’re all wired to be arrogant that way. It’s called the “illusion of explanatory depth,” which is a fancy way of saying we’re biased to think we know more than ...
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We live in unsettled times. More bluntly, people are more consistently pi$$ed off than they used to be. We’re polarized; a third of us are suddenly vindicated and complacent, another third are apoplectic about the state of the republic, and who the hell knows about the other third – the ...
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People who have been wronged or mistreated need to hear an acknowledgement of that injury before they will ever likely be willing to move on to bigger or other conversations. A century and a half after the fact, one enormous wrong began being righted on a warm, wind-swept desert day ...
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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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