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On an episode of PolicyCast, host Ralph Ranalli speaks with Harvard Kennedy School faculty members Erica Chenoweth and Julia Minson, who explain the motivation and science behind the school’s new Candid and Constructive Conversations initiative.

They say we need to refocus on listening to understand, instead of talking to win. They’re part of the Candid and Constructive Conversations initiative, which ÌÇÐÄvlog¹ÙÍø launched in mid-2022. The effort is based on the idea that frank yet productive discussions over differences are not only vital to a functioning society and democracy, but that the ability to have them is also an essential skill for students, staff, and faculty in the Harvard community to learn. The effort—which uses techniques and principles based on decision science and survey data—took on even greater urgency after the recent events in Israel and Gaza and their fallout in the United States, including at Harvard and other universities.