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The Transformative Power of Trust in Conversations
Ever felt that sinking feeling when a conversation goes south? That moment when what began as a simple exchange suddenly feels like a battleground, with words becoming weapons and understanding slipping away? Judith E. Glaser's groundbreaking work "Conversational Intelligence" reveals why this happens and how to prevent it. As a pioneering organizational anthropologist with over three decades of research, Glaser has developed a framework that's transformed how Fortune 500 companies communicate. Her book has become required reading for executives at companies like Target, AIG, and Bank of America, who credit her methods with dramatically improving their organizational cultures. What makes this work particularly fascinating is how it bridges neuroscience and practical communication techniques-explaining not just what happens during our conversations but why our brains react the way they do. Oprah Winfrey has cited Glaser's work as transformative for understanding relationship dynamics, while business leaders praise it as the missing link between intention and impact in communication. At its core, this isn't just another communication book-it's a revolutionary approach to understanding the neurochemistry of human connection.
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When Good Intentions Lead to Bad Conversations
Conversations are far more complex than simple exchanges of information. They're multidimensional interactions where what we think, say, mean, and how others interpret us often diverge dramatically. The gap between our intention and our impact can lead to profound misunderstandings that damage relationships and derail careers.
Consider Glaser's experience with Anthony, a challenging coaching client. Despite her best intentions and professional expertise, their relationship deteriorated into mutual distrust. She found herself trapped in a mental movie where Anthony was the villain-arrogant, stubborn, and impossible to reach. Meanwhile, Anthony likely created his own mental movie about her incompetence as a coach. This dance of distrust ultimately led them to "fire each other," with neither achieving their goals.
What makes conversations so complex is that they trigger immediate biochemical reactions in our bodies. Within moments of making contact with another person, our brains begin processing signals that determine whether we'll trust or distrust them. Our bodies detect electrical signals from others from up to ten feet away, and these signals influence how we feel and respond. This connectivity process involves energy, feelings, and memories that help us determine whether someone is friend or foe.
When conversations go badly, our primitive brain takes over. The amygdala-our brain's alarm system-activates, triggering fight, flight, freeze, or appease responses. Under threat, our executive functions shut down, and we become closed to influence. We stop listening to understand and instead focus on defending our position or attacking the other person's.
This neurological hijacking explains why even well-intentioned conversations can spiral downward. When Anthony and Glaser interacted, their mutual fear of failure triggered protective responses. The more she pushed, the more he resisted, creating a vicious cycle where neither could hear the other. Their conversations became a push-pull dynamic where each was determined to be right, preventing any meaningful connection or progress.
The most profound insight from this experience is that conversations don't just reflect our reality-they create it. When we enter conversations with fear or judgment, we trigger distrust in others, which confirms our fears and creates a self-fulfilling prophecy. This reality gap-the difference between what we intend and what others experience-becomes the breeding ground for failed relationships, missed opportunities, and organizational dysfunction.
Understanding this neurochemistry of conversation gives us the power to break these destructive patterns. By recognizing when we're being triggered and choosing to respond differently, we can transform our conversations from battlegrounds into bridges, creating the foundation for genuine connection and collaborative success.
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The Neuroscience of Trust and Distrust
Trust forms the foundation of human connection. As Anton Chekhov noted, "You must trust and believe in people or life becomes impossible." Yet trust is remarkably fragile, especially in workplace relationships where expectations and performance pressures run high.
Consider the story of Kathryn and Margo. Once a high-performing team, their relationship deteriorated when Kathryn began responding dismissively to Margo's ideas. "What do you mean by that?" or "How can you even think that?" became Kathryn's default responses, causing Margo to withdraw and stop offering suggestions. Their productivity plummeted, with Kathryn considering terminating Margo for poor performance-never recognizing that her own behavior had triggered the decline.
What happened between them illustrates how trust and distrust operate as interconnected but distinct neural systems with different "addresses" in the brain. Trust activates the prefrontal cortex-our executive brain-where we match our worldview with others and engage in higher-level thinking. Distrust, however, triggers the amygdala, our primitive brain's alarm system, which shuts down access to these higher brain centers.
When we feel threatened during conversations, our brain chemistry changes dramatically. Cortisol floods our system, remaining active for up to 26 hours, while our access to the prefrontal cortex-where empathy, strategic thinking, and creative problem-solving reside-becomes limited. This neurochemical shift explains why a single dismissive comment from a boss can derail an employee's performance for days.
The insula-an information highway between our mirror neurons and limbic system-plays a crucial role in how we resonate with others, helping us "read" their intentions and feelings. When this system functions well, we can build trust through empathy and understanding. When it's overwhelmed by fear signals, we lose this capacity.
Even a single word can trigger this fear state, especially when it comes from someone in authority. For Kathryn and Margo, likely a single conversation or sentence tipped them into distrust. Once embedded, distrust becomes difficult to dislodge because our brains begin filtering all interactions through this negative lens, creating a self-reinforcing cycle.
The promising news is that by identifying developing distrust before amygdala triggering becomes severe, we can activate higher-level brain functions. By down-regulating fear effects, we strengthen social connections. We can sideline amygdala signals by noticing our threat reactions, labeling them as normal, choosing alternative responses, and transforming fear into trust-the heart of Conversational Intelligence.
When trust is present, our brains produce a "conversational cocktail" of feel-good chemicals like oxytocin (the bonding hormone), dopamine (the reward chemical), and serotonin (the mood regulator). These neurochemicals change how we feel and think, triggering our trust networks and enabling us to work through challenges with optimism and creativity.
Research from the Creating WE Institute has identified the two least-developed workplace skills: having uncomfortable conversations and asking "what if" questions-both essential for building trust. Without the ability to have difficult conversations openly and honestly, cultural transformation remains impossible.
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Moving from Distrust to Trust
When trust breaks down, relationships need a reset. Brenda's story illustrates this challenge perfectly. Promoted to lead a cross-functional department at a cosmetics company, she relied on her previous leadership style of giving direct instructions. Within three months, her team turned against her, creating an atmosphere of fear and distrust. People felt she had her own agenda and didn't listen.
The problem stemmed from Brenda imposing old solutions on a new situation-a common leadership mistake. We store successful experiences in our limbic brain and retrieve them for new situations, but this approach often fails because it neglects the human factor and collaborative learning. People learn best by doing, not being told what to do.
When Brenda's leadership was questioned, trust eroded through fear of failure, distrust of her motives, inability of staff to contribute insights, and the perception that she thought she was right while they were wrong. The company attempted an "Onboarding Intervention" with open dialogue, but without proper preparation, it devolved into a venting session that left Brenda feeling publicly assassinated.
This illustrates what Glaser calls the Ladder of ConclusionsTM-how we form judgments starting with bio-reactions (chemical responses within .07 seconds), followed by feelings, thoughts, beliefs, and finally conclusions where we block out other perspectives. Once at the top of the ladder, we set out to prove we're right rather than seeking understanding.
When trust is gone, we literally become different people. Fear and conflict change both our neural chemistry and how others perceive us. In one moment, we can transform from trusted advisor to someone others loathe and distrust. This happened with Brenda, who identified two people she believed were the origins of her deep wounds. Unable to address these issues directly, her relationships deteriorated further until complaints reached HR and executive coaching was brought in.
The TRUST Model provides five powerful steps leaders can take to restore trust, each signaling our brains to move into higher levels of trust:
1. Transparency involves making threats visible and minimizing their impact by creating space for open conversation without fear of retribution. This quells the reptilian brain's fear response. Brenda began having intentional, candid conversations with easier relationships first, practicing giving healthy feedback while showing respect.
2. Relationships activates the heart brain, which assesses "friend or foe" signals. Through Partnering Conversations, Brenda shifted from judgment to respect, learning about her team's needs. As she got to know people personally, she transformed from a "power-over" to a "power-with" leader.
3. Understanding means seeing the world through others' eyes. The limbic brain stores memories of interactions, sorting them as "feel good" or "feel bad." Brenda realized her uncertainty triggered "power-over" behaviors and discovered strategies for building "power-with" relationships instead.
4. Shared Success helps us trust that others will make decisions similar to ours and resolve conflicts fairly. When we have a common view of success, we intuitively trust others to make decisions aligned with ours.
5. Testing Assumptions and Truth-Telling allowed Brenda to see the possibility of starting over with a clean slate. She began testing her assumptions about "friend or foe," transforming former enemies into colleagues as she let go of old assumptions.
Through this process, Brenda experienced a positive shift: "It's like something switched in my brain. I am now able to see the bigger picture. I'm not attached to being right." She began building new frameworks that included people in her inner circle, shifting from an "I-centric" to a "WE-centric" perspective.
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Navigating the Conversational Highway
Conversations are rituals we embed into our culture and relationships, providing structure for successful engagements with others. These rituals form the very architecture of our interactions. When we create rituals that honor others' worldviews-especially when different from our own-we create space for better conversations and new ideas.
However, humans have conversational blind spots-beliefs that prevent mind-to-mind connections with others. Breakdowns occur when we talk past each other, carrying on monologues rather than dialogues, seeing the world only from our perspective rather than understanding others'.
Five critical blind spots impede effective communication:
1. Assuming others see what we see - We believe our reality is the only reality, failing to recognize that others have different perspectives based on their unique experiences.
2. Assuming others think the way we think - We project our thought processes onto others, not recognizing that they may approach problems differently.
3. Inability to stand in others' shoes when fearful - Mirror neurons discovered by researchers in Parma, Italy allow us to sense what others feel and think, enabling empathy. But when fearful, this connection breaks down.
4. Assuming we remember what others say - In reality, we remember our thoughts about their words. Research shows we drop out of conversations every 12-18 seconds to process, and our internal dialogue often trumps others' actual speech.
5. Assuming meaning resides in the speaker - Meaning actually resides in the listener. We interpret others' words through our own experiences stored in the hippocampus and neocortex, creating different mental pictures.
These blind spots emerge from reality gaps-the fact that your reality and mine differ fundamentally. We have different experiences, know different people, come from different places, and use different language to label our world. Even people in the same room take away different impressions.
To bridge these gaps, we must recognize the three levels of conversation:
Level I (Transactional) features "Tell and Ask" dynamics with minimal trust, where people exchange information to align realities. These are yes/no questions that are often statements in disguise: "Are you okay with taking the second writing sample?"
Level II (Positional) involves "Advocate and Inquire" dynamics with conditional trust-advocating for what you want while inquiring about others' beliefs to influence them: "I'm fascinated by the second sample... How are you thinking about it?"
Level III (Transformational) employs "Share and Discover" dynamics, where vulnerability signals willingness to be influenced, building trust that enables co-creation and innovation: "Which writing sample will achieve the best outcomes?" or "What assumptions do you hold about the project's success?"
The Conversational Dashboard helps identify the quality of interactions, trust levels, and outcomes produced at each conversation level. By understanding these dynamics, we can elevate our conversations from transactional exchanges to transformational interactions that build trust and create new possibilities.
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Harvesting Conversational Intelligence Through Our Five Brains
Maya Angelou's wisdom reminds us that while people forget what we say or do, they never forget how we make them feel-highlighting the emotional foundation of meaningful conversation. Conversations trigger physical and emotional changes in our brains and bodies, releasing hormones like oxytocin for bonding, cortisol for fear, and testosterone for aggression.
Our five brains work together to process these conversational signals-with the heart and brain forming a critical partnership that determines whether we feel safe to trust and connect or threatened and defensive. The reptilian brain and amygdala respond quickly to threats, causing us to listen with "threatened ears" that distort what we hear with fear-based interpretations. When we feel threatened, chemicals activate our fight-or-flight reflex while preventing our thinking brain from functioning optimally.
Our older brain responds to fear at 0.07 seconds-faster than our higher brain's 0.1 seconds-making our nonverbal processors more influential than verbal elements in determining conversational meaning. This explains why communication is far more complex than words alone. As Albert Mehrabian discovered in 1967, when conveying feelings face-to-face, words comprise only 7 percent of our communication, while tone of voice accounts for 38 percent and nonverbal behaviors 55 percent.
Oxytocin, the "cuddle hormone" produced in the brain, ovaries, and testes, drives our need for social contact and makes us feel happier and more collaborative. This powerful hormone explains why isolation is painful and rejection can hurt more than physical pain. Its ability to create well-being is comparable to a mother's hug, making it essential for healthy social connection.
When threatened or judged, our heart beats faster, sending protective signals to the brain. Conversely, when in coherence with others, our heart maintains a rhythm signaling trust and openness. Level III conversations facilitate higher coherence, creating a self-reinforcing system where neurotransmitters like oxytocin promote "move toward others" behavior, integrating brain activity and allowing transformational experiences bathed in "happy hormones."
Professor Uri Hasson's research at Princeton reveals that during successful communication, speaker and listener brains show identical activation patterns, but this "neural coupling" diminishes when communication breaks down. This synchronization happens most effectively during Level III conversations where trust is cultivated through honoring and respecting others.
Our brains function optimally in trusting relationships, with different brain regions taking the lead depending on circumstances. When stressed, our reptilian brain becomes master; when expectations aren't met, our limbic brain guides us. Our neocortex provides scripts for making sense of reality, while our prefrontal cortex guides complex decisions.
Heart-brain research shows that when our hearts synchronize with others, trust emerges, allowing us to connect deeply and merge our thinking. As social beings, our need for connection exceeds even our need for safety, with social rejection activating the same neural regions as physical pain.
During social connections, our minds unconsciously process five hardwired questions that determine whether we'll open up to others:
1. How do I protect myself?
2. Who loves me and can I trust this person?
3. Where do I belong?
4. What do I need to learn to succeed?
5. How do I create value with others?
When leaders project positive intentions and employees receive positive answers to these subliminal questions, confidence increases through neurochemical shifts in serotonin and dopamine. Public praise unlocks additional positive chemistry throughout the brain, creating a motivational state where employees feel trusted and supported, becoming more willing to take risks and speak up.
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Bringing Conversations to Life
Leaders often become trapped in ineffective communication patterns, particularly what Glaser calls the "Tell-Sell-Yell Syndrome" of Level I conversations, where they repeatedly use the same tactics while hoping for different outcomes. As Marcel Proust noted, true discovery comes not from finding new landscapes but from seeing with new eyes.
Our brains are neurochemically wired to enjoy being right. When we're right, we get a dopamine hit-an addictive sensation. According to researchers Hugo Mercier and Dan Sperber, our brains have evolved to help us argue convincingly. This manifests in workplace meetings where leaders engage in power dances, finding it difficult to let go of winning, especially with colleagues as spectators.
The addiction to being right can make corporate cultures toxic, creating "alpha dominance" and silencing others. Even brilliant C-level executives can develop argumentative, arrogant styles that make others feel stupid-what Glaser calls the "You Stupid Idiot" (YSI) Syndrome.
Moving to Level III conversations releases the power of true exchange with others. As our Conversational Intelligence evolves, we become mindful of our intentions and notice our impact. At Level III, we recognize that each person brings unique meanings to words, and cultures are the sum of co-created meanings. "Sense making" becomes essential, requiring us to value sharing and discovering.
The Clairol brand case study illustrates the transformative power of Conversational Intelligence. Facing plummeting sales and rampant finger-pointing, the company was in crisis. Each department operated in isolation: Marketing focused on promotions, Sales wanted greater incentives, and Advertising believed new commercials targeting younger consumers would help.
Before implementing Conversational Intelligence, the executive VP of Sales exemplified Level I dynamics, standing before his team with dictatorial directives: "We need to increase sales by 4 percent" and "follow these scripts to the letter." Sometimes he'd venture into Level II, becoming strongly opinionated when facing resistance.
After coaching toward Level III dynamics, he transformed his approach by sharing challenges, asking for help, and inviting co-creation: "We need to increase sales by 5 percent to become the category leader. I have thoughts to share, but I need your best thinking. How can we co-create this together?" This shift from telling to sharing and discovering opened space for his team to participate rather than merely receive orders.
Conversation rituals form the heart of transformation, activating change without triggering resistance and fear. After coaching Clairol's senior executives to move from "Protect" to "Partner" mindsets, Glaser created space for practicing Conversational Intelligence across the organization. Leaders operated from the TRUST Checklist: being Transparent, focusing on Relationships before tasks, listening to Understand perspectives, pursuing Shared success rather than self-interest, and Truth telling by testing assumptions about reality gaps.
The biggest shift at Clairol was moving from "telling-asking" (Level I) conversations to "sharing-discovering" (Level III) interactions. Employees began asking questions without predetermined answers, becoming open to influence and staying engaged during difficult conversations. This transformation enabled Clairol to grow from $250 million to $4.5 billion in less than a decade, becoming the recognized leader in hair care and color. In 2001, P&G purchased the revitalized company for $4.95 billion.
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Priming for Level III Conversations
We all possess hardwired Vital Instincts that allow us to instantly read others' trustworthiness. The best communicators align their intentions with their impact, creating trust when these elements correspond. Our primitive brain assesses trustworthiness in just .07 seconds, determining friend or foe based on subtle cues.
When we experience fairness, ownership, reciprocity, cooperation, open expression, and status (FORCES), our brains produce "happy" neurotransmitters like dopamine, serotonin, and oxytocin that buffer stress and create pleasure. Conversely, threatening interactions trigger fear chemistry with excess dopamine, norepinephrine, testosterone, and steroids, preparing us for fight-or-flight.
Fear neurochemistry has a much longer-lasting effect-cortisol remains active for twenty-six hours-which is why leaders must deliberately shape environments for trust to enable productivity and creativity. Developing Conversational Intelligence requires mastering the alignment between our inner desires and their impact on others. The better this alignment, the more we elevate our trust quotient with others.
When conversations trigger our primitive brain, we lose executive functions-our ability to connect, empathize, judge, and innovate disconnects from our conversational ability. The antidote is activating your Third Eye-the wisdom residing in your prefrontal cortex that can neutrally reflect on situations, see alternative viewpoints, and choose relationship-enhancing responses.
Priming is a powerful technique that reduces threats and fears that activate our reptilian brain. It's the implicit effect where exposure to a stimulus influences subsequent responses. In business settings, priming allows us to design conversational spaces flooded with positive neurotransmitters that foster high engagement.
Even physical factors like temperature affect our perceptions-studies show people holding warm coffee judge others as "warmer" personalities and behave more generously than those holding cold beverages. To prime important conversations, modify the physical environment to create warmth rather than coldness. For example, seating arrangements matter-people at the head of a table create authority dynamics (cold), while round tables promote warmth.
Before conversations begin, several trust-building actions can trigger bonding and understanding. Simple gestures like handshakes release oxytocin, signaling "friend not foe" to the brain. Establishing rules of engagement at the start of meetings shifts brain chemistry-quieting the amygdala's protective impulses and engaging the prefrontal cortex.
During challenging conversations, the technique of "disengaging" proves valuable. When facing potential conflict or reaching an impasse, tactfully pausing the meeting allows participants to step back from their "Ladder of Conclusions," reducing cortisol and arousal neurotransmitters. This break interrupts negative mental patterns and creates space for broader thinking.
The Conversational Dashboard serves as a visual reminder for shaping conversational space. Our engagement either triggers self-protection (leading to withdrawal, defensiveness, or attacks) or partnership. In protective I-centric mode, we focus solely on self-preservation, creating leadership vacuums and less engaging conversations. WE-centric leadership, conversely, brings us closer to others, enabling truth-seeking and building shared reality.
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Conversational Agility: Reframing, Refocusing, Redirecting
As we develop conversational awareness and learn to "see" with our Third Eye, we become better at recognizing when to change navigational patterns during conversations. Research shows that intentional practice of regulating negative thought loops can reduce cortisol by 23 percent while increasing DHEA by 100 percent, dramatically reducing stress and improving well-being through mindful practices.
Visual Dashboards represent the next generation of leadership communication tools, creating shared frameworks that enable people to "see" complex relationships simply. Whether invisible (hardwired into our DNA, instinctual) or visible (explicit frameworks), dashboards help gauge conversational health and improve interactions by applying Conversational Intelligence.
When using Conversational Dashboards, if you find people are generally Resistors or Skeptics in a closed state of mind, try asking discovery questions like "What would it take for you to feel more engaged?" While this approach is powerful, sometimes you need to transform the conversational space using reframing, refocusing, and redirecting-the "three Rs" that can interrupt unproductive patterns and access Level III wisdom even during conflict or emotional triggers.
Reframing is a miraculous tool for transforming difficult situations into opportunities for finding trust and common ground. It gives conversational partners a mental break to think in new ways by changing the context and meaning. For example, when someone says, "I don't feel good about myself because I make so many mistakes," reframing shifts their perspective: "Those who make mistakes are taking risks-and that's how we learn. Edison made nine hundred light bulbs before finding one that worked."
Refocusing is a powerful conversational tool that elevates people from stuck positions by redirecting them to see new connections within a larger topic. The reticular activating system (RAS) in our brain enables us to guide our focus and intention, allowing us to defocus on certain things while focusing on others.
Redirecting transforms difficult situations into opportunities for building trust and finding common ground. This conversational tool helps move someone from feeling emotionally stuck to seeing new possibilities. Rather than communicating judgment ("You Stupid Idiot"), redirecting shows you care enough to help them see things differently.
When you notice yourself in protective mode on the Conversational Dashboard, use reframing, refocusing, and redirecting to move from "Protect" to "Partner." These skills help create a mind shift from the lower reptilian brain to the higher executive brain, elevating communication abilities even when addressing difficult subjects-what Glaser calls a Leadershift.
Five key Leadershifts transform conversations:
1. From Fear to Transparency - Making threats transparent and addressing fears shifts our neurochemistry. By having co-creating conversations with trusted people who can help reframe perceived threats, we create space for trust to emerge.
2. From Power to Relationship Building - Focusing on relationships over status stimulates brain chemistry supporting nurturing and moves us from fear to trust.
3. From Uncertainty to Understanding - When we focus on understanding others' needs and aspirations, we move from I-centric to WE-centric thinking, rebalancing our neurochemistry and creating safe spaces for belonging.
4. From a Need to Be Right to Mapping Shared Success - By stepping back and becoming curious about others' perspectives, you release dopamine that fuels curiosity. Defining success together creates new bonds of trust.
5. From Groupthink to Group Cohesion and Partnering - When we share our individual "movies" and work together to create a shared vision, we enter the highest stage of trust building where co-creation becomes possible.
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Leading with Trust: The Foundation for Transformation
Trust is the foundation of great leadership. Change brings uncertainty, which triggers fear. Leaders who reduce fear and increase trust create the foundation for higher-level conversations where innovation and collaboration flourish. When leaders shift interaction dynamics from Level I to Level III, an alchemical cultural transformation occurs, creating space for candor, caring, and conversational agility.
Angela Ahrendts' transformation of Burberry demonstrates the power of elevated Conversational Intelligence. Within five years of becoming CEO in 2006, she turned a languishing 150-year-old company into the fourth-fastest-growing brand globally and the world's fastest-growing fashion brand.
Ahrendts challenged the belief that having one conversation across a global organization of 9,000 people was impossible. After a six-month transition shadowing her predecessor, she recognized the broken culture and unclear future. With her management team, she posed fundamental questions: "Who are we? Who are we becoming? How can we sustain our company for another 150 years?" Their solution: marry classic tradition with digital innovation while elevating organizational teamwork.
For Ahrendts, everything starts with trust: "Trust is truly at the heart of it all. If trust is your core value, you hire accordingly... When I look them in the eye I'm asking myself: Do I trust them, and do I get the feeling that they trust me? Do they get the vision?"
Trust functions as organizational glue during challenges. When trust is absent, we see REALITY with threatened eyes: we Reveal less, Expect more than possible, Assume the worst, Look at situations with caution, Interpret communications with fear, Tell secrets, and Yes people to avoid truth. Conversely, with trust, we Reveal more, Expect less and over deliver, Assume the best, Look with an open heart, Interpret through truth, Tell the truth, and Yes people to confront truth.
The quality of culture depends on relationships, which depend on conversations. By grafting new conversational rituals into your interactions, you'll discover new possibilities. Five conversational rituals can help you become a master of Conversational Intelligence: First, see resistance as a natural companion to change rather than something to overcome. Second, welcome conversations by creating forums for transparent dialogue, transforming fears into constructive strategies. Third, engage head, heart and spirit through storytelling rather than relying solely on logic. Storytelling triggers oxytocin, which creates bonding and transforms the fearful "I" into "WE."
To create true organic transformation, we must use Conversational Intelligence to create the space for change. Co-creating conversations aren't about quick fixes or new policies, but about practicing navigating scenarios from multiple perspectives. This approach allows us to develop practices and rituals that we all embrace, projecting future scenarios to explore and choose the best paths together. By forming a WE-centric rather than I-centric view, change leaders help people find their place in the change process, reducing fears and allowing us to breathe and aspire together.
Through Conversational Intelligence, we can transform not only our personal relationships but our organizations and even our world. By understanding the neuroscience behind our interactions and applying these principles consistently, we create the foundation for trust that enables true collaboration, innovation, and shared success. In a world increasingly divided by miscommunication and distrust, these skills may be the most important ones we can develop-for ourselves, our organizations, and our future.
