From Conflict to Collaboration: Dr. Diana Smith's Guide to Political Healing

Welcome to the Healing Our Politics podcast!

Join Our Community and Receive Free Tools + How to Guides:

Join “The Leader’s Handbook” newsletter

·  Always free

·  Once per month email

·  Curated selection of tools, techniques, and practices discussed on this podcast

·  Delivered in simple to follow how-to-guides

·  To try and test in your life and teach your teams.

JOIN HERE

Guest: With over 40 years of experience in social science and relational dynamics, Diana holds a Master of Education and Doctorate in Consulting Psychology from Harvard University and is the author of Remaking the Space Between Us, her fourth book. Dr. Smith has spent 25 years teaching top executives, educators, and leaders to build relationships to master tough challenges.

About the Episode: In this episode, we explore that relationships must be fixed before policy to heal our politics. Diana breaks down the science of in-group–out-group thinking, extreme partisanship, and repairing relationships. We discuss leveraging biases for connection, historical decline, and how to reverse the trend. She provides playbooks to test if you are unknowingly under the influence of malevolent leaders, media, and profiteers, how to engage those you disagree with, and how to beat conspiracy theories.

Diana shares techniques for building stronger teams, reviving trust, and cultivating support, along with the behaviors of bridge-building leaders like Abe Lincoln and Nelson Mandela that you can cultivate in your leadership.

Key Topics Discussed:

·  [00:01:48] “HOP” introduction

·  [00:03:29] Dr. Diana Smith guest introduction

·  [00:05:30] Relationships before policy to heal our politics

·  [00:08:02] Healing of South Africa

·  [00:09:52] Cultivate the approaches of transformational leaders

·  [00:12:19] The power of curiosity

·  [00:13:54] Constructive Vs. destructive challenge  

·  [00:16:02] Building “failure muscles”

·  [00:19:37] Power of radical ownership

·  [00:23:00] How to give constructive feedback

·  [00:25:00] Michael Caine “Use the difficulty”

·  [00:27:57] Dr. Diana’s upbringing

·  [00:32:12] Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)

·  [00:34:14] Root of extreme partisanship

·  [00:37:18] Defining “the space between us”

·  [00:39:36] Environmental contributors to authoritarianism

·  [00:46:44] The “problem with democracy”

·  [00:48:56] Not In Our Town

·  [00:53:06] Leveraging hot and cold brain systems

·  [01:03:22] Benjamin Franklin on “constitutional imperfection”.

·  [01:07:33] Impact of loneliness and isolation

·  [01:11:50] Birds Aren’t Real

·  [01:13:51] How to beat conspiracy theories

·  [01:14:40] Curate media consumption for well-being

·  [01:16:45] Solutions Journalism

·  [01:21:26] Leveraging media for healing  

·  [01:24:12] Is evil real?

·  [01:28:45] Test: Under the spell of a malevolent leader?

·  [01:35:15] How to: Engage with those you disagree with

·  [01:39:10] How to: Reform a White Nationalist

·  [01:48:54] Redefine winning

·  [01:53:14] Citizen’s call to action

·&