The Magic of Dialogue: Transforming Conflict into Cooperation

In "The Magic of Dialogue," famed social scientist Daniel Yankelovich does more than revive the ancient art of dialogue; he reinvents it in a brief, practical form that suits our times. Drawing on decades of research, he offers a method that will help managers, leaders, businesspeople, and other professionals succeed in the new economy. By helping them to master the communication skills needed to conduct dialogue successfully, he shows how the discipline of dialogue can make them more effective managers, strengthen relationships, resolve problems, and achieve shared objectives. Our new global economy is a world of exploding diversity, merging corporate cultures, and eroding top-down authority. More players participate in decision making than ever before. New circumstances and widely dispersed organizations with differences in interests and agendas oblige managers to make decisions in a climate of mistrust and misunderstanding. In this diverse and less hierarchical world, decision makers must learn to argue less and "dialogue" more. Not just another form of conversation or discussion, dialogue is a specific skill to be acquired, a skill as important as the techniques of negotiation. Successfully practiced, it can produce extraordinary results. "The Magic of Dialogue" highlights the following important points: * How dialogue differs from debate, discussion, and deliberation * When dialogue is essential * When ordinary discussion and debate are good enough * The new social and business trends that make dialogue more urgently needed than ever before * Ten mental "potholes" to avoid * How to initiate dialogue through "acts of empathy" * Thespecial kinds of knowledge and insight that dialogue produces * Dialogue as a path to public wisdom * How dialogue can resolve the tensions between the Vision of the Free Market and the Vision of Civil Society As our businesses and culture at large continue to expand, involving more people with differing perspectives in each transaction, dialogue can be the catalyst that brings us together, builds our strengths, and moves us in constructive ways.