by Margaret Anderson | Feb 13, 2013 | Blog
As my clients, trainees and readers know, paraphrasing is one of the workhorses of my communication and consensus building tool kit. Restating another person’s words in different terms proves that you listened to him and got the point. This, in turn, makes him more...
by Margaret Anderson | Feb 6, 2013 | Blog
In Bridges to Consensus, I recommended three mental or spiritual values that support good consensus building and communication practices: compassion, calmness, and curiosity. I recommend regular meditation as a way to foster the second value, calmness. Now I’d like...
by Margaret Anderson | Jan 31, 2013 | Blog
I have written in the past about the importance of a positive or optimistic attitude when approaching a consensus seeking conversation, or any other important endeavor for that matter. People tend to live up, or down, to the expectations they sense from us. Moreover,...
by Margaret Anderson | Jan 23, 2013 | Blog
A recent study at Case Western University indicates that we can’t think analytically and empathetically at the same time. Most people’s brains automatically choose the proper network, analytical or empathetic, for a given task. Perhaps more importantly,...
by Margaret Anderson | Jan 15, 2013 | Blog
In last week’s post, I raised a chicken-or-egg question based on the recently discovered correlation between trustfulness and ease of reading people. Does trustfulness actually improve our ability to spot the bad guys? Or do people with good intuitions have the luxury...
by Margaret Anderson | Jan 9, 2013 | Blog
I recently read about a study at the University of Toronto designed to test who is best at detecting lies, cynics or those who tend to give others the benefit of the doubt. The “high trusters” proved better at spotting liars than those who assumed the...
