An Academic Question

The question that academics should be asking (and answering) is this one: “What value do I add to a college students’ experience in a world where information is just a Google search away?” The answer to this question requires academics to admit, out loud, that research may not be the Read more…

Seeking Validation

When someone asks you for validation about their approach to managing a conflict, what they are really asking for is reassurance that they are doing the right thing. But since validation can only come from gatekeepers, and since gatekeepers have significantly less power in the world now than they ever Read more…

Seeing is Not Believing

Many times, at the intersection between human behavior and true innovative change, seeing is not believing. Or maybe that’s hearing… This often happens when the information we are confronted with about a coming future, doesn’t match with the information we have chosen to believe in the immediate present, about how Read more…

Leaving Workplaces

Studies show that people don’t leave workplaces, they leave bosses. And at a deeper level, people don’t leave workplaces, or bosses, they leave the conflict cultures that are developed, tolerated and supported in the organization. We can argue all we want for better workplaces (that certainly happens in this space) Read more…

The Model Doesn’t Work Without Content

The model doesn’t work without a base of content. And since quality is subjective (it always has been) and quantity is overwhelming (it has been ever since Google pushed the argument of search to its logical conclusion), the only considerations in online learning that matter are the ones based on Read more…

[Opinion] Fierce Confrontations

Confrontation is the beginning of conflicts, but confrontation can only come about if we have the courage to have a conversation in the first place. Conversation is not confrontation, though conversation may make parties in conflict uncomfortable. Uncomfortable conversations must happen in fierce ways for those conversations to have value, meaning, Read more…

[Advice] Conflict Manipulation

The manipulation is simple, but the consequences are complex. We lament “Why can’t we all just, get along?” and then we proceed to irritate, obfuscate, or deceive the other party. Then we look at them with Alfred E. Nueman’s famous facial expression and metaphorically shrug our shoulders. The problem is Read more…