We discuss how to have better conversations with award-winning journalist, host of "On Second Thought" and author of "We Need To Talk", Celeste Headlee.
Show Notes
1:35— Ian, Darren, and March introduce Celeste and share how we became familiar with her work.
4:24— Celeste talks about how the ability to communicate effectively is a unique human advantage and how losing the ability to communicate constructively can be the difference between life and death.
6:39— The difference between simply tolerating someone and truly understanding their perspective.
8:49— Ian is curious about whether cooperation is a universal human trait.
10:40— Celeste discusses the traits common to all humans; especially the strong need we all have to feel like we “belong”.”
13:56— Sympathy vs. empathy
17:43— Celeste helps Darren identify public role models who demonstrate constructive disagreement and references Brian Cox’s response to the question about his spirituality (or lack thereof).
20:03— We discuss why mainstream media’s excuse that they simply “give people what they want” is cop out.
22:33— Darren compares “click-bait” to empty calories in a food diet.
23:40— Celeste notes that “there is no replacement for the human voice as an effective tool for communication.”
24:25— Celeste shares how she became interested in the topic of constructive communication.
27:25— Darren shares an experience he had with a roommate in college that enlightened him about the power of giving others the benefit of the doubt.
28:35— March shares his thoughts about why constructive communication is critical for a healthy marriage.
30:20— Ian shares how a sales job early in his career taught him about the importance of making meaningful connections with others.
33:02— Ian asks Celeste how to maintain one’s authenticity while trying to empathize with others and Celeste talks about how people regularly “code switch.”
34:15— “A great conversation is like a game of catch.” — Celeste Headlee
36:10— March asks Celeste for advice on how can each of us can make a contribution to a better public dialog; and Celeste shares new research with us on “The Liking Gap.
38:39— “Nobody waves, but almost everyone waves back.” — Celeste quoting from Nicholas Epley’s book, Mindwise
39:34— Celeste shares a powerful tip for how we can help ourselves and others avoid falling into an “us vs them” mindset.
41:55— Ian shares how the human genome proves scientifically how much we have in common with one another.
42:50— We discuss social media as a tool that can be used constructively or destructively and the importance of being intentional with one’s use of social media.
51:00— Why there is a reason to be optimistic for the future.
54:20— Ian does some spot research to reveal that the term “conversations” is on an upward trend on Google.