My colleague, Ilhyung Lee, pointed me to another graduation speech highlighting the importance of generally listening respectfully to and engaging with people we disagree with.  He sent me a link to a speech by University of Chicago Law Professor Tom Ginsburg, entitled “Conversation and Democracy.”  I had cited Bret Stephen’s speech and Jen Reynolds linked to Tom Hanks’s address.  This also is the essence of the work of the House Select Committee on Modernization of Congress which received the  Frank E. A. Sander Award for Innovation in Dispute Resolution for its collaborative group processes, as Michael Moffitt highlighted.

Promoting good communication is especially important considering the intense polarization in our public life, which often seeps into our private lives as well.  This is hard even for dispute resolution experts, as we have our own strong feelings.  But it is a fundamental principle that we encourage, teach, and try to use in our professional and personal lives.

Of course, it’s not always appropriate to listen and engage, as I described here, but normally it is.