Category: Articles
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The Process of Dialogue: Creating Effective Communication
Consider any complex, potentially volatile issue — Arab-Israeli relations; the problems between the Serbs, Croats, and Bosnians; the U.S. deficit, healthcare costs, or labor/management…
How Can We Solve Our Toughest Problems Peacefully?
For the past 15 years, I have focused all of my attention on answering one question: How can we solve our toughest problems peacefully?…
The Ladder of Inference
How we act depends on how we understand the situation we are in. Our understandings often seem obvious to us, as if they were…
Breaking the Cycle of Organizational Addiction
Every so often in the world of business, we see an enterprise that, after years of steady progress and growth, suddenly experiences a drastic…
How to See “Structure”
You have probably already learned about the importance of distinguishing among events, patterns, and structure. But still, you may be finding it difficult to…
The Conversational Power of Mapping Our Mental Models
Suppose that I bought a $34 ticket to hear a concert and, on the way to the event, I lost the ticket. I…
Attention Not Energy
When you face something unpleasant, give it your attention but not your energy.” This is one of the best pieces of advice I’ve ever…
A Business Is More than a Balance Sheet
Teachers sit on the bleachers at town meetings watching the townspeople resist raising their salaries. The Dartmouth faculty complains to the trustees about the governance…
Shifting the Burden: The “Helen Keller” Loops
Most of us know the story of Helen Keller and have probably sympathized with her and her parents, whose actions to protect their handicapped daughter…