Four Attributes for Civil Discourse
“We live in two Americas,” opines Nicholas Kristof in a recent New York Times Op-Ed. “The one thing we all agree on: Our social fabric is torn.” Kristof goes on
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Talking About the Gender Pay Gap
The gender pay gap is just one indicator within a broader issue of discrimination and bias. My latest eNewsletter references aspects of this topic, including the language and sound of gender pay bias, transparency
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It’s All About Relationships
I recently interviewed Palma Strand, cofounder of Civity, a national non-profit that supports individuals and communities in building authentic relationships across social differences. As we talked, if became clear that there were commonalities between the health of our civic communities and our corporate ones. In her work to strengthen communities, Strand noted
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Real Leaders Don’t Know
Curiosity is the next big topic of business says Zander Lurie, SurveyMonkey CEO. Lurie asserts in this LinkedIn article that, “curiosity will determine which firms will thrive and which ones will stumble.” Curiosity had, since the Enlightenment, been a central part of examining the human condition. I say “had” because the role of curiosity in culture has a checkered past. Lurie may be able to suggest curiosity as the next big thing because, of late, it is in hiatus.
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The Real Value at Conferences
Marketplace Weekend interviewed MIT economics professor John Van Reenen in anticipation of this year’s World Economic Forum in Davos. What struck me was that this Forum was just like most other conferences that you and I go to. Reenen observed: “The interesting stuff all happens in between the kind of formal meetings, the random chats which go on outside in the corridors and walking around and maybe in the evening.”
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Lessons in Conversation from the Academy
The academic world can be a vicious place. You might imagine universities and research institutions to be places of vigorous yet civil discourse, where provocative, cutting-edge opinions are discussed in a welcoming spirit that acknowledges that disagreement for the sake of growth and knowledge is the essence of the dialogue at hand. Sometimes that is true. Sometimes, however, it is a thin veneer
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Do You Mistake Communication For Conversation?
We mistake communication for conversation. As I have remarked before here, we often belittle the richness of “conversation” by using that word unsparingly to describe any activity of personal interaction. This is particularly noticeable when we are considering communication via a virtual platform or other technological medium. The CEO of Slack, Stewart Butterfield, should be expected to have a nuanced view of this distinction, and he does. Sort of.
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For New Year, Don’t Resolve To Simplify
You’ve probably made some New Year resolutions or, perhaps, set out your 2018 intentions. Many of you will have weighed the pressures of work and home and determined that 2018 will be a more efficient, productive, and less overwhelming year. Apps and tools, processes and behavior fixes offer the promise of a decluttered and simplified life. Don’t be too hasty.
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Top Ten Books of 2017
Reviewing the books I read this last year it became clear that, consciously or not, they adventured both inwardly and outwardly, endeavoring to make sense of my own values, morals and mores in a landscape of social tumult and civic degradation. Perhaps, as books should, they say a little something about me as well as to me.
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Celebrating My Fresh Website
Welcome to my refreshed website. What I thought would take a week to do has been in hiding behind a curtain for about three months! The goal of this new website, hosted by my friends at Flywheel, is to provide a more robust and versatile platform to share fresh thinking about
read more![Paul Gavarni Le Flaneur [public domain France, PD 1923]](https://squishtalks.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/rosler-leflaneur.jpg)