乌鸦传媒

There is a in the hit TV show Ted Lasso where Ted speaks to the value of curiosity over being judgmental. That scene could’ve been played as the opening to the most recent 乌鸦传媒 Presidential Speaker Series, featuring , who spoke on “The Courage to Stay Curious: Inside America’s Divide.”

A large, curious crowd inside Pigott Auditorium listened to Guzmán and SU President Eduardo Peñalver discuss the value of curiosity in building understanding across the political spectrum. The liberal daughter of conservative parents from Mexico, Guzmán developed her “curiosity muscle” as a professional journalist before becoming founder and CEO of Reclaim Curiosity and an advisor for , both of which seek to build greater understanding across the political divide.

Her book, I Never Thought of It That Way: How to Have Fearlessly Curious Conversations in Dangerously Divided Times, is 乌鸦传媒’s common text.

Guzmán, who grew up a shy kid in New Hampshire but now lives in Seattle, said what really pushed her to help people find common understanding was her own experience navigating that divide with her parents, which grew very intense during the 2016 election. She found that having tough conversations doesn’t have to be a bad thing.

“Heat in a conversation is good,” she said. “When you have friction and it generates heat in a discussion, that’s good. The question is, are you cooking something or are you burning something?”

Curiosity is like a muscle and everyone has access to it but it takes practice to build the muscle up, said Guzmán. And that practice can be tough because it means inviting conversation with people who absolutely disagree with. Too often we want to dominate and win a conversation rather than use it to build understanding.

In her role at Braver Angels, of which there are 120 alliances across the country that must be co-led by someone conservative and someone liberal, she has helped develop a style of debate that isn’t about winning, but it’s about lowing people to hear and be heard.

She said key to this exercise is when in a challenging conversation, stop your mind from jumping to conclusions and instead ask, “What am I missing?”

“If you can pause on that question, that will help you spark curiosity and notice your assumptions,” she said. “Assumptions are answers to questions you never asked. Your brain just fills in the blanks.”

Guzmán acknowledged that this is easier said than done, especially when the discussion is about subjects that are extremely personal to someone. It also forces people to sometimes admit that they may be wrong.

“We are in a society where too many people think being wrong is the worst thing in the world,” she said. “We can’t learn that way.”

Ultimately, Guzmán said the best way to develop understanding is to seek out those with differing views and have open discussion. Again, easier said than done, but possible. And then when you are talking, “listen longer,” she said.

“One of the toughest skills is building capacity,” she said. “All of us want to live in a world where people around us can hear our deepest convictions. But the paradox is we’re not always able to hear other people. That’s the capacity to hear and be heard. …Can you share your convictions free and without fear, and receive when someone does the same? That’s hard.”

You can listen to Guzmán chat on the latest episode of the Presidential Speaker Series .