All Peacemakers Needed

All Peacemakers Needed

Everyday peacemaking, one conversation at a time. All Peacemakers Needed is a show about handling conflict better in the ordinary places it actually shows up. At home. At work. Across the fence. In the group text. Each episode, we sit down with people who study and practice this work and discuss real skills you can use in your next hard conversation. We cover the everyday skills of peacemaking: de-escalating conflict, difficult conversations, active listening, empathy, repairing relationships, disagreeing without contempt, and finding common ground. New conversations regularly. Start with any episode. Learn more at allpeacemakersneeded.com.

Episodes

  1. Sep 14

    Kids Actually Do Care: Raising the Next Generation of Peacemakers — Dr. Stephanie Serriere

    Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note. What if young people care far more than we give them credit for — and just need someone to ask? Dr. Stephanie Serriere is a professor of education at IU Columbus and director of the iEngage youth civic empowerment camp. A former elementary teacher who has taught around the world, her research focuses on youth civic engagement — supporting the issues that are real and relevant to young people's lives. In 2025 she received Indiana University's Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Building Bridges Award. In this conversation, she shares what she's learned about listening to young people and helping them become peacemakers. Stephanie explains why adults have to reposition themselves and open up space for youth to talk about what they really care about, how her camp helps kids research real community issues and take action on them, and why consensus isn't about winning a vote but about listening and building agreement together. She makes the case that disagreement is healthy, that being comfortable with discomfort is a skill, and that even when a young person's idea doesn't win the day, the seeds you plant can grow in ways you'll never see. We cover listening to young people, youth civic engagement, consensus-building, including quieter voices, letting go of outcomes, and why disagreement is part of being human together. 📚 Learn more about Dr. Serriere and her work at Indiana University Columbus and her reseach including her co-authored book Civic Education in the Elementary Years. Learn more about the iEngage camp at IU Columbus. Other topics discussed in the interview: Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and iCivics — the founder and the civics-education games that sparked the iEngage model Roger Hart's Ladder of Participation — a framework for youth involvement, from tokenism to genuine collaboration Vivian Vasquez, Negotiating Critical Literacies — including her story of kindergarteners petitioning to be included National School Reform Faculty — source of the "Fist of Five" consensus technique and other facilitation tools All Peacemakers Needed spreads everyday peacemaking one conversation at a time. Learn more and become a peacemaker at allpeacemakersneeded.com.

  2. Sep 1

    Conflict Coach — Dr. Emily de Schweinitz Taylor

    Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note. What if peacemaking is a skill we could learn as young as age three? Dr. Emily de Schweinitz Taylor is a certified mediator, developmental psychologist, author, and mother of five. She holds master's degrees in international policy and conflict resolution and a PhD in developmental psychology, and she hosts the podcast Conflict Coach with Dr. Emily Taylor. In this conversation, she shares what a career in mediation — and raising five kids — taught her about handling conflict well. Emily explains why relationships matter more than winning, why we can't force peace through pressure or control without breeding resentment, and how research shows even young children can learn to negotiate and repair conflict. She walks through the five conflict approaches — avoid, accommodate, compromise, compete, and collaborate — and why "conflict fluency" means being able to shift between them. And she shares the heart of her coaching work: listening deeply, helping people find their own answers, and remembering that real connection requires both listening and sharing. We cover conflict fluency, the five conflict approaches, teaching children to mediate, perspective-taking, self-determination, and why lasting peace comes from exchange, not accommodation. Dr. Taylor is the author of Conflict Fluent and Raising Mediators. https://www.raisingmediators.com/ Learn more and find her podcast Conflict Coach with Dr. Emily Taylor on BYU Radio wherever you get podcasts. https://www.byuradio.org/conflict-coach/episodes/season-1 All Peacemakers Needed spreads everyday peacemaking one conversation at a time. Learn more and become a peacemaker at allpeacemakersneeded.com.

  3. Aug 11

    Start With One Person You Disagree With — Liz Joyner

    Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note. What if building peace across our differences starts with just one relationship? Liz Joyner is the founder and president of The Village Square, a nonprofit out of Tallahassee, Florida that for nearly two decades has brought people who don't think alike into the same room — and helped them build trust across their differences. In this conversation, Liz shares the practical, human-sized tools she's learned for bridging divides in our own lives and hometowns. She explains why there's no substitute for direct contact with people different from us, how a single cross-cutting friendship can change the way we see everyone we disagree with, and her "rings of a tree" approach to building diverse groups that actually hold together. She also makes the case that peacemaking works best when it's local, proximate, and — refreshingly — not too serious. Her advice for the everyday peacemaker is simple: start small. Reach out to one person you like but whose views you don't understand. Because the human superpower isn't avoiding disagreement — it's the reciprocal kindness that grows when we stay in the same room. We cover building empathy across differences, why local peacemaking matters most, the core catalyst model, reciprocal kindness, and starting close to home. Learn more about The Village Square at villagesquare.us. Liz's essay "The Threads of a Nation" is at villagesquare.us. She also references The Big Sort by Bill Bishop, on how Americans have clustered into like-minded communities. All Peacemakers Needed spreads everyday peacemaking one conversation at a time. Learn more and become a peacemaker at allpeacemakersneeded.com.

  4. Jul 11

    Healing Our Divides: Seeing the Person, Not the Position — David B. Ostler

    Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note. Most people want the same thing: health, prosperity, good relationships, and a society that nourishes instead of divides. So why do we end up in conflict? David B. Ostler — retired business executive and author of Healing Our Divides — has lived across continents and seen this truth firsthand. In this conversation, David shares the practical tools he developed for navigating deep disagreements: cognitive empathy, recognizing our own biases, and the radical act of humanizing people instead of labeling them. Whether it's your family, your neighbors, or people with wildly different worldviews, David's approach is simple: start close to home. Do the work in the relationships that matter most. Choose your media wisely. And remember that most people are genuinely seeking goodness — they're just coming from different places. This is a conversation about seeing the person, not the position; about why jigsaw puzzles make good gathering places; and about why peacemaking doesn't require you to be an expert, just willing to try. We cover cognitive empathy, humanizing people instead of labeling them, recognizing our own biases, finding common ground, building relationships across differences, and listening to understand. Find Healing Our Divides by David B. Ostler at gregkofford.com. All Peacemakers Needed spreads everyday peacemaking one conversation at a time. Learn more and become a peacemaker at allpeacemakersneeded.com

About

Everyday peacemaking, one conversation at a time. All Peacemakers Needed is a show about handling conflict better in the ordinary places it actually shows up. At home. At work. Across the fence. In the group text. Each episode, we sit down with people who study and practice this work and discuss real skills you can use in your next hard conversation. We cover the everyday skills of peacemaking: de-escalating conflict, difficult conversations, active listening, empathy, repairing relationships, disagreeing without contempt, and finding common ground. New conversations regularly. Start with any episode. Learn more at allpeacemakersneeded.com.