by Tom Esch | Jul 20, 2016 | How to Handle Polarizing Topics and Challenging People, Blog
July 2016 It has been a rough week in the USA. When so many innocent men are murdered, in the context of racial fear and revenge, it is frightening. The killings of Philando Castile in Falcon Heights, Minnesota (about a mile from where I grew up), the Dallas...
by Tom Esch | Feb 22, 2016 | How to Handle Polarizing Topics and Challenging People, Blog
Unresolved cultural and racial tension is expensive on multiple levels. Are you worried about keeping good workers? Have some residents moved out? Are you concerned that your staff are not friendly enough Do they see their differences more than similarities? Do some...
by Tom Esch | Feb 21, 2013 | How to Handle Polarizing Topics and Challenging People, Blog
Recently I attended an open forum on gun control. There were over 150 people in the room. It was really intense. The person moderating the conversation did a great job introducing the topic and giving many of us a chance to speak. And though the meeting went fairly...
by Tom Esch | Aug 17, 2011 | How to Handle Polarizing Topics and Challenging People, Blog
I was with a group one time when a person “hijacked” the group. This is a term in my trade which describes what happens when a person, or a small group, takes control of a situation or a group process without permission to do so. In this case it was in the midst of a...
by Tom Esch | Jun 27, 2011 | How to Handle Polarizing Topics and Challenging People, Blog
There was a street fight right in front of our house, in Minneapolis, on New Year’s Eve last year at about 2 a.m. A group of eight young men, probably 16-18 yrs old, yelling and screaming and punching. They were either drunk or high or both and very loud. Kristen, my...
