Two Things Can Be True

This month I read Brené Brown's Strong Ground with Peak Perspectives, a professional networking book club I'm part of.

I was listening to it when I hit a section about fear. It was about the things we don't do because we're afraid, and how we need to be vulnerable to get past that. I realized it wasn't only for me.

My 12-year-old had been on the fence about auditioning for her school musical. So I had her listen to that segment. Afterward, she decided to audition.

I picked up that book for a networking group, and it ended up helping my kid. That's what I love about reading new things. You never know where a book is going to land.

Why I Read With Other People

Peak Perspectives is one of the places I read with other people. I also host a book club of my own, where we read banned books.

I went back and forth on whether to say that here. I decided I should, because I believe education is power, and limiting it is dangerous.

This month we're reading Like a Love Story by Abdi Nazemian. He came to speak about banned books at a local university, and I went to hear him.

You can read a book and disagree with every page. You'll still understand someone a little better than you did before you opened it.

That's what a book club is good for. Two people read the same pages and come away with different books. We talk about it, sometimes we disagree, and then we pick the next one.

Everything Has Become Either-Or

One of his slides put it all on one screen. The same book had been called "disgusting" by one voice and named one of the best young adult books of all time by another.

Lately it feels like our communities only have two settings. A book is good or it's bad. You're for AI or you're against it. You're with this political party or that one. Pick a side and stay there.

I don't think most of life works that way. I use AI every day, and I still have questions about where it's headed. A change can be hard and still be good for you. A kid can be afraid of an audition and decide to walk in anyway.

Two things can be true at the same time. I want more room for that, with more conversation and more empathy between people who see things differently.

Making Room for Both at Work

If you lead a team, you've watched a meeting split into two camps. Here's what I'd try.

Ask "what else is true?" Say it out loud when the room has picked sides. There's usually a third thing nobody has said yet.

Read something together. It doesn't have to be a whole book. An article works. It gives people something outside themselves to disagree about, which is a lot easier than disagreeing about each other.

Let people be unsure. "I don't know yet" is a real answer. Teams that can't say it end up choosing sides too early.

Go first. Say the two things you're holding. "I'm excited about this tool, and I'm worried about what it changes." Your team will follow what you show them.

Start With a Book

Read something new this month. Read it with someone who will see it differently than you do, and then talk about it.

You might be surprised where it lands. I was.

Want Help Making That Room?

If your managers are leading people through a lot of change and you want them ready for the hard conversations, we'd love to talk.

People First. Growth Always.