an online book by David Gurteen
Conversation is the way that humans have always thought together. In conversation we discover shared meaning. It is the primal human organizing tool.
Even in the corridors of power, very little real action happens in debate, but rather in the side rooms, the hallways, the lunches, the times away from the ritual spaces of authority and in the relaxed spaces of being human.
In all of our design of meetings, engagement, planning or whatever, if you aren't building conversation into the process, you will not benefit from the collective power and wisdom of humans thinking together.
These are not 'soft' processes. This is how wars get started and how wars end. It's how money is made, lives started, freedom realized. It is the core human organizing competency.
What Is the Difference Between Rhetoric and Oracy? What Is a Real Conversation? Close Pop-up all posts in this chapter What’s the Vibe? Please be patient as this may take up to a minute to load… Close Conversation is a form of interactive, spontaneous communication between two or more people. Typically it occurs in spoken Continue reading Introduction: the Power of Conversation A powerful, adaptable human technology
What is a conversation? Is an argument or a debate a conversation? Is an exchange of SMS messages a conversation? You might argue they are. However, a genuine conversation is something truly special. So what makes a real conversation? Continue reading What Is a Real Conversation? There is more to conversation than just talking or exchanging messages
Numerous words or phrases describe the varied forms of conversation and speech. This page lists some of the more common ones in alphabetic order. Continue reading The Language of Conversation and Speech Meanings of words describing conversation and speech
The Language of Conversation and Speech The Purposes of Conversation Close Pop-up all posts in this chapter What’s the Vibe? Please be patient as this may take up to a minute to load… Close Continue reading The Value of Conversation ** Why are conversations so valuable?
Conversation shapes how we think, connect, and act together. But we often enter it without knowing what we’re really trying to do. Naming the different purposes of conversation helps us be more thoughtful and deliberate in how we engage. Continue reading The Purposes of Conversation Real conversation serves one or more purposes
The adjacent possible shows that small steps can lead to significant changes. But human habits and fears often shrink the space we move within. When we listen and respond with openness, conversation becomes a gateway to new futures. Continue reading Conversations and the Adjacent Possible How dialogue creates quiet shifts in what is possible
To have a productive conversation, participants must possess several conversational capacities. Continue reading Conversational Capacities Prerequisites to a good conversation
Conversational Capacities Dialogue Vs Debate ** Close Pop-up all posts in this chapter What’s the Vibe? Please be patient as this may take up to a minute to load… Close Introduction Conversations can be categorized according to level in many ways, depending on the purpose of the categorization. For example, how different styles of conversation Continue reading Levels of Conversation ** Four levels of conversation
Levels of Conversation ** Conversation Is a Dance ** Close Pop-up all posts in this chapter What’s the Vibe? Please be patient as this may take up to a minute to load… Close Debate Dialogue Assumes there is a right answer and you have it. Assumes many people have pieces of the answer and that Continue reading Dialogue Vs Debate ** Exploring together vs winning
The phrase “conversation is a dance” highlights how conversation is an improvisational, collaborative, and responsive process, similar to dancing, where participants move together in sync, sensing each other’s rhythms and adapting to create a fluid and shared experience rather than a rigid performance. This “dance” emphasizes a mutual exchange of ideas, trust, and understanding, requiring … Continue reading Conversation Is a Dance ** Conversation and dance are both improvisational
We often have informal professional meetings without a plan in which the conversation meanders and little is accomplished. We need to focus more, but how? By adding a light structure, we can improve the quality, depth, and meaningfulness of the session. Continue reading Improving Informal Conversations ** Add a little structure
Improving Informal Conversations ** Conversation Is More Than Communication Close Pop-up all posts in this chapter What’s the Vibe? Please be patient as this may take up to a minute to load… Close Life is a conversation between ourselves and the world around us. What conversation do you want your life to be? Continue reading Life Is a Conversation ** Life is a conversation between ourselves and the world around us
Life Is a Conversation ** The Difference Between Dialogue and Debate ** Close Pop-up all posts in this chapter What’s the Vibe? Please be patient as this may take up to a minute to load… Close Face-to-face conversation is far more than just communication. When we have a conversation, we don’t just exchange information. That’s Continue reading Conversation Is More Than Communication Conversation shapes our lives
We often say we need to debate something, especially in the political world, when what we really need is a dialogue. But what is the difference between dialogue and debate? Continue reading The Difference Between Dialogue and Debate ** In dialogue, finding common ground is the goal while in debate, winning is the goal
The Difference Between Dialogue and Debate ** Meetings and Conversations Serve Two Purposes Close Pop-up all posts in this chapter What’s the Vibe? Please be patient as this may take up to a minute to load… Close With increasing polarization in society, effective communication that fosters connection and understanding is essential. Jazz improvisation and conversation Continue reading The Jazz of Conversations Drawing parallels between jazz improv and conversations
Meetings or, more generally, conversations serve two purposes. Continue reading Meetings and Conversations Serve Two Purposes There is a second purpose to any meeting which we often overlook
Meetings and Conversations Serve Two Purposes Friends with Cognitive Benefits Close Pop-up all posts in this chapter What’s the Vibe? Please be patient as this may take up to a minute to load… Close The Italian island of Sardinia has more than six times as many centenarians as the mainland and ten times as many Continue reading Why Face-to-face Interaction Matters ** Our social life is essential to our wellbeing and health
Why Face-to-face Interaction Matters ** Verbal Judo ** Close Pop-up all posts in this chapter What’s the Vibe? Please be patient as this may take up to a minute to load… Close Research shows that engaging in short friendly conversations boosts people’s performance on a variety of cognitive tasks. A study in 2011 by researchers Continue reading Friends with Cognitive Benefits Engaging in short friendly conversations improves people’s thinking
Friends with Cognitive Benefits Cognitive Diversity Close Pop-up all posts in this chapter What’s the Vibe? Please be patient as this may take up to a minute to load… Close Verbal self-defense, also known as verbal judo,is defined as using one’s words to prevent, de-escalate, or end an attempted assault. It is a way of Continue reading Verbal Judo ** Using one’s words to prevent, de-escalate, or end an attempted assault.
Verbal Judo ** Turn-taking in Conversation Close Pop-up all posts in this chapter What’s the Vibe? Please be patient as this may take up to a minute to load… Close When thinking about organizations or teams, we most commonly think about diversity in terms of gender, race, or age. But there is another form of Continue reading Cognitive Diversity Seeing and processing the world differently
Turn-taking is the practice of individuals in a conversation taking turns speaking. It involves one person talking while others listen and then transitioning to the next speaker. This back-and-forth exchange enables effective communication and ensures everyone has an opportunity to contribute to the conversation. Continue reading Turn-taking in Conversation When we talk we take turns
Turn-taking in Conversation Our Most Powerful Technology Is Conversation Close Pop-up all posts in this chapter What’s the Vibe? Please be patient as this may take up to a minute to load… Close Pask’s Conversation Theory, developed by British cybernetician Gordon Pask in the 1970s, is a conceptual and theoretical framework that explores how learning Continue reading Conversation Theory ** Gordon Pask
What is the most powerful technology ever invented? Electricity, the Internet, nuclear power, the printing press or something different? Continue reading Our Most Powerful Technology Is Conversation Conversation – an overlooked technology
In Plato’s Phaedrus, Socrates shares the myth of Thamus and Theuth, questioning the invention of writing. Writing, he argues, weakens memory and offers the appearance of wisdom without true understanding. Socrates suggests that serious discourse using the dialectic method is a nobler pursuit, leading to genuine wisdom and happiness. Continue reading The Myth of Thamus and Theuth Does writing allow the pretense of understanding, rather than true understanding?
The Myth of Thamus and Theuth Connecting Minds Close Pop-up all posts in this chapter What’s the Vibe? Please be patient as this may take up to a minute to load… Close Many of us find it difficult to give a speech, and it is not always easy to listen to one, but we are Continue reading Our Brains Are Designed for Conversation That is why we find conversation so easy
A powerful metaphor for exploring group thinking is the idea of connecting minds. Continue reading Connecting Minds Connecting and synchronising minds
There are two conversations. Continue reading Thinking Together Talking with each other beats talking to ourselves
Thinking Together Let’s Have More Interesting Conversations Close Pop-up all posts in this chapter What’s the Vibe? Please be patient as this may take up to a minute to load… Close Conversation in business is frequently seen as soft and wooly. Is it? I’m afraid the senior managers in my organisation have got no interest Continue reading Hard Conversation Conversation is anything but soft and wooly
Hard Conversation Conversation Sharpens the Saw Close Pop-up all posts in this chapter What’s the Vibe? Please be patient as this may take up to a minute to load… Close Who gets to decide what makes a useful conversation. You or your manager? In the book The ClueTrain Manifesto, David Weinberger says: It’s always struck Continue reading Let’s Have More Interesting Conversations It’s our job
One reason people often give for not taking a more conversational approach to their work is the lack of time. Many even see it as a waste of time. But it is not! Continue reading Conversation Sharpens the Saw It is not a waste of time
Conversation Sharpens the Saw Bake Conversation Into All That We Do ** Close Pop-up all posts in this chapter What’s the Vibe? Please be patient as this may take up to a minute to load… Close Conversation permeates our organizational lives. Organizational Conversation is the myriad of conversations that occur minute-to-minute every day within an Continue reading Organizational Conversation ** The conversation is the organization
Organizational Conversation ** When Laughter Speaks Louder Close Pop-up all posts in this chapter What’s the Vibe? Please be patient as this may take up to a minute to load… Close Conversation is an extraordinary, powerful and adaptable tool that we can put to all manner of purposes. We can bake it into almost everything Continue reading Bake Conversation Into All That We Do ** There are so many ways to leverage conversation
Bake Conversation Into All That We Do ** Conversation Is Not a Panacea for All Our Problems ** Close Pop-up all posts in this chapter What’s the Vibe? Please be patient as this may take up to a minute to load… Close Conversations reveal more than we realize. While we can edit our words in Continue reading When Laughter Speaks Louder How humor and language expose our inner selves
When Laughter Speaks Louder Become a Conversation Architect Close Pop-up all posts in this chapter What’s the Vibe? Please be patient as this may take up to a minute to load… Close I often get criticized when I talk about the power of conversation. People conclude that I think conversation will solve all our problems, Continue reading Conversation Is Not a Panacea for All Our Problems ** But it goes a long way
Conversation Is Not a Panacea for All Our Problems ** Oracy Close Pop-up all posts in this chapter What’s the Vibe? Please be patient as this may take up to a minute to load… Close Conversations occur spontaneously in various contexts with little or no thought about who should be involved or how they should Continue reading Become a Conversation Architect A conversation architect designs and convenes conversations
Schools rightly prioritise numeracy and literacy as the core foundations of learning. Yet listening and speaking, the capacities that shape how we think together, receive far less attention and are rarely examined. Oracy deserves equal standing alongside reasoning, understanding, and meaningful human connection. Continue reading Oracy The ability to express oneself in and understand spoken language
Rhetoric is often construed as insincere or meaningless language that sounds clever. This is an unduly negative perspective. Rhetoric is a critical cognitive and communication skill. Continue reading Rediscovering Rhetoric Rethinking how we influence and communicate every day
On the face of it, rhetoric and oracy would seem the same, but although they have much in common, they have some significant differences. Continue reading What Is the Difference Between Rhetoric and Oracy? Rhetoric is monologue, oracy is dialogue
