Last week I wrote about what happens when we face conflict and we stop seeing each other as people. We stop seeing that our opponents have strengths, flaws, needs, and aspirations — just as we do. Instead, we reduce each other to less than human. These strategies may make us feel better. But any relief we feel is just temporary. And we’re not working toward resolving the conflict. The authors […]
I offered this idea recently to a group of state legislators gathered in Seattle during the 2015 Summit of the National Conference of State Legislators. More than 4000 elected officials and legislative staffers got together to discuss hot topics ranging from energy policy to education funding, mental illness in the criminal justice system, marijuana legalization, and beyond. During this non-partisan gathering, 85 of us spent a morning together focused on […]
