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We live in challenging times. Populism/Nationalism is on the rise all over the world. We confront increased political, cultural, and economic discord. Religious animosity is high. It seems people distrust one another more than ever. Tribalism is on the rise. What do we do? What do you do? How do we reverse the trend? Dr. Karin Tamerius, is the founder of Smart Politics, an organization focused on teaching us how to have more engaging and less confrontational conversations with people who think differently than we do. Considering current divisions, with the anger, and frustrations that permeate much of the western world, I think she has something extremely valuable to teach all of us. Karin attended U. of Michigan Graduate School in Political Science, then received a medical degree from U. of California, San Francisco, and is a member of the Psychiatry Residency program there. As a trained Psychiatrist, Karin realized a huge opportunity to address what a problem in how we approach conversations with people who do not agree with us, no matter the subject. She developed a process to help find common ground, to understand that we all have the same basic concerns, we just have different methods to deal with them.

We must do better if we are going to solve many of the problems facing our planet. One way or another we have to move across some of these divides. Karin helps turn down the rhetoric and really digs into root causes that can assist bridging the deep chasms between us. I learned a great deal from her. I hope you do too.