Every Leader Needs a Listening Tour

Season 3 Finale: Can Civility Survive Modern Politics? Meet a Lawmaker Who Said Yes

Former Minnesota State Representative Sandra Feist [https://www.pbs.org/video/retiring-lawmaker-rep-sandra-feist-kmbw0d/], who led the state's Civility Caucus [https://www.wsj.com/politics/minnesota-arkansas-kansas-civility-caucus-92c00dda] and practices as an immigration attorney, shares two contrasting stories of political conflict. She details how an out-of-context tweet by a Republican colleague was successfully defused through direct, personal communication and shared policy expertise, eventually leading to a meaningful piece of bipartisan legislation. In contrast, she examines a separate floor altercation that spiraled into tribal posturing, partisan t-shirts, and a pointless digital media fight that left hard feelings on both sides of the aisle. Through these examples, Representative Feist pulls back the curtain on how interpersonal relationships can either forge cross-party solutions or amplify modern political theater. Tell us your argument stories!  * Email guest and topic suggestions to us at whenwedisagree@gmail.com * Follow us on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/whenwedisagree?igsh=MWh2eXJlOWsxa3JkcQ%3D%3D&utm_source=qr]

You Are Not a Pawn: Reclaiming Attention in a Wired World

Gloria Mark [https://gloriamark.com/](attention expert, author of Attention Span [https://gloriamark.com/attention-span/] and The Future of Attention Substack) challenges the reigning cultural narrative that tech giants have completely hijacked our brains. Debating those she calls "techno-determinists," Mark pushes back against the viral idea that users are merely helpless pawns to the addictive algorithms of TikTok and YouTube. While she freely acknowledges that big tech shares some of the blame, she brings a data-driven defense of human agency, showing how quickly mindless habits can form, but also how successfully they can be rewired. Rather than prescribing a hopeless path of total digital abstinence, she outlines a liberating framework of intentional reframing, showing us how to reclaim our free will and transform our devices from endless dopamine traps back into simple, purpose-driven tools Tell us your argument stories!  * Email guest and topic suggestions to us at whenwedisagree@gmail.com * Follow us on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/whenwedisagree?igsh=MWh2eXJlOWsxa3JkcQ%3D%3D&utm_source=qr]

Anatomy of a Digital Boycott: When the Crowd Demands Retribution

Katherine Brodsky [https://www.katherinewrites.com/], host of the Forbidden Conversations podcast and author of No Apologies: How to Find and Free Your Voice in an Age of Outrage [https://www.amazon.com/No-Apologies-Outrage_Lessons-Silenced-Majority/dp/1634312503], was the target of a cancellation attempt. While managing an online professional network for women journalists, an Fox News job posting on the forum triggered a cascade of intense community outrage. Brodsky explores the severe consequences she faced when she tried to steer the forum away from partisan politics and personal attacks, including online cancellation campaigns, bad-faith labels, and attempts to weaponize her past employers against her. This conversation pulls back the curtain on the hyper-reactive nature of digital spaces and the intense social pressure to conform, tracing how a self-described "people pleaser" found her own voice by navigating an online thunderdome. Tell us your argument stories!  * Email guest and topic suggestions to us at whenwedisagree@gmail.com * Follow us on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/whenwedisagree?igsh=MWh2eXJlOWsxa3JkcQ%3D%3D&utm_source=qr]

Don't Give Up on People: The Radical Moderate's Guide to Polarization

Lauren Hall [https://www.prohumanfoundation.org/people/lauren-k-hall-phd], author of The Medicalization of Birth and Death [https://www.amazon.com/Medicalization-Birth-Death-Lauren-Hall/dp/1421433338] andThe Radical Moderate's Guide to Life [https://radicalmoderatesguide.substack.com/] Substack and the co-host of the We Made This Political [https://thepodcastcollaborative.com/view/podcast_discovery_database/entry/41523/] podcast, breaks down why labeling half the country as unreachable is empirically incorrect, morally flawed, and strategically self-defeating for a liberal democracy. Backed by data tracking the shifting, diversifying realities of the American electorate, she reveals how voter choice is rarely a total ideological affirmation, but rather a complex, often reluctant compromise centered on narrow individual priorities. Instead of succumbing to the fundamental attribution error that strips our neighbors of their humanity, she offers concrete practices to "complexify" our worldview, dismantle artificial binaries, and rebuild essential social coalitions through localized, in-person community connections.  Tell us your argument stories!  * Email guest and topic suggestions to us at whenwedisagree@gmail.com * Follow us on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/whenwedisagree?igsh=MWh2eXJlOWsxa3JkcQ%3D%3D&utm_source=qr]

Every Leader Needs a Listening Tour

Annie Rappeport [https://www.annierappeport.com/], who brings 15 years of dialogue design and facilitation experience at various universities, explores the professional friction between immediate productivity and deep, collaborative engagement. She has frequently navigated a specific disagreement [https://www.linkedin.com/in/annierappeport/]: critics argue that a new leader should focus on rapid execution and desk-based visibility, while Rappeport insists that the initial priority must be meeting and listening to every team member. She maintains that relying only on past experiences or theoretical research rather than the lived experiences of a new environment risks leading a group astray. By prioritizing connective conversations and collaborative imagination, she advocates for a leadership model rooted in building resiliency and bridging practices rather than just speed. Tell us your argument stories!  * Email guest and topic suggestions to us at whenwedisagree@gmail.com * Follow us on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/whenwedisagree?igsh=MWh2eXJlOWsxa3JkcQ%3D%3D&utm_source=qr]