Introduction
What Is Dialogue Gap?
Only praying and wishing for a world without problems is unrealistic. We must learn from our sad experiences and promote the spirit of dialogue.
—14th Dalai Lama, 20091
We believe that there is a greater need than ever for leaders to meet and genuinely “think together” the real meaning of dialogue. Only through creating such opportunities can there be any hope of building the shared understanding and coordinated innovative action that the world desperately needs.
—2001 letter penned by senior leaders from BP, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, Shell, Visteon2
To open yourself to begin to understand the theory behind dialogue is to open yourself up to the forces that make human endeavours effective or not. Once you are aware of these forces, you can no longer simply blame people for situations that don’t work out and you can begin to set up conversations that will engender better results.
—William Isaacs, 19993
The world is in crisis. Everywhere we turn we are confronted with unprecedented problems be they economic, environmental, social, or health related. To survive the twenty-first century we need to rediscover how to dialogue not just to live peaceably and sustainably on this planet, but also to lead our organizations through the turbulence and into a successful future. Communicating better isn’t enough. We need to innovate and find ways to do things differently. This requires effective dialogue at work, at home, and in society.
This book explores the ...
