LunchVox: Bridging the Political Divide
On August 29th, the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce gathered a group of over 50 people at the Hilton Garden Inn for a discussion on “Bridging the Political Divide”. This was the fourth LunchVox in a quarterly series. Speaking, was Dr. Terry Joseph Busch. Dr. Busch has over thirty years of professional experience as a teacher, foreign policy analyst, manager, leader at the executive level of the Federal Government, and management consultant.
Bringing a wealth of experience to what we all know is a difficult subject, Dr. Busch spoke about how society seems to have come to a ‘civil discourse stalemate’ on so many issues and topics that affect everyone. This stalemate is apparent on the national level, but also on a community level and even within our own families. How we collectively seem to have stopped listening to one another during tough conversations in order to project our own opinions, and to prove the other party wrong. We can all identify the problem; we’ve all seen it, experienced it and probably participated in it to some degree. The problem might seem obvious, but what Dr. Busch points out, is that the solution is just as obvious. It all comes down to effective speaking and listening skills.
Members in the audience were asked to engage one another to practice active listening as well as engaged speaking. Although participants discussed varied sensitive subjects, no ‘eggshells were being walked on’, no insults being thrown around- no crossed arms and glaring eyes of judgement. Instead, stories were being told, points of view explained, and real conversations were being had. Each participant discovered that despite acute differences, there is always an underlaying common ground to be found and built upon.
This nation is one of great change and diversity. We have been highly politically polarized and there is no easy fix. It will take a lot of hard work and for each of us to decide to listen. It’s difficult to set your own beliefs aside and try to understand someone else’s point of view. To make meaningful change in the way we talk to one another about political conversations, each and every one of us has a responsibility to become leaders in overcoming this divide, in active listening and to be the proponents of change; conversation by conversation, room by room and person by person.
For more information on Dr. Terry Joseph Busch, visit http://www.terrybusch.com/
If you’re interested in seeing Dr. Terry Busch speak, come see him at the 2019 Leadership Summit. Click here for more information.
