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Introduction:
Robert Stains of the Public Conversations Project gives advice for dialogue practitioners.
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This rough transcript provides a text alternative to audio. We apologize for occasional errors and unintelligible sections (which are marked with ???).
Advice
Robert Stains
Program Director, Public Conversations Project, Watertown, Massachusetts
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Q: What
advice would you give to someone who is wanting to get into this kind of work?
A: I'd say focus on having the right heart and spirit. Don't be seduced by
technique. At the same time, develop your excellence in technique. Don't be
ruled by your heart, the two should inform each other. Have faith in the people
that you're working with. Approach them as collaborators and co-creators rather
than as subjects. The last thing would be to cultivate an openness to other
stories in your own personal life. I often use the analogy of the monastery, because my
tradition is Christian tradition, where we have to really be able to live as
much as we can. We have to be able to live dialogue as well as do it with other
people. Cultivating an openness to a wider array of stories of ourselves and
others is sort of the pilgrim's task. That's my advice to other people.
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