But here's what you can control: yourself. And that's actually a lot. You can initiate a conversation that opens a door instead of slamming one. You can meet a controversial topic with curiosity instead of judgment. When the temperature in a conversation starts to climb, you can be the steadying presence that keeps it from boiling over. These aren't small things. In a system that keeps pulling toward more heat and more noise, one person choosing a different approach is a gen

A risky conversation is more than a difficult conversation with an ‘80’s coming-of-age’ movie name. It’s when we’re working through disagreement or conflict.  It’s also any conversation where it’s hard to show up as well as you wish you could. Often in these conversations, our breathing quickens, our hands sweat, and our thinking gets murky.  That doesn’t mean you’re bad at tense conversations. It means you’re a normal human being.