by Dr. Rick Kirschner on February 8, 2010
This post is a reformulation of a blog entry from this past August, when I last taught Psyc 604 at SCNM. I’m posting it for the benefit of my new students.
Today is day one in my healthy communication intensive class (Psyc 604) at Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine. This intensive is one of the most challenging things I do each year – in part because of my ambition to put everything of value into the class that I possibly can, and in part because it requires me to be on my feet going for it for 4 hours a day, 5 days in a row. This intensive is also one of the most rewarding things I do each year, because I relish the chance to teach these future doctors as they begin their academic career at the school.
The class is 20 hours of contact time, organized roughly as follows.
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by Dr. Rick Kirschner on February 1, 2010
The most successful partners and teams have at their core a strong set of shared values. If you and another person believe or think the same kinds of things and experiences are important about the work you do or the life you lead, you’ll be able to work together to problem solve and share the positive results after. The blending made possible by your shared values allows you to work through differences without the differences undermining your work, to disagree without being disagreeable.
Here’s the case in point:
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by Dr. Rick Kirschner on January 29, 2010
I love gadgets, and I’m a huge fan of Steve Jobs and crew at Apple Inc. I am interested in the track record of positive change and progress, and Apple continues to provide a tangible example of what that looks like and how it is done. So every once in a while, I like to write about what I’m watching, hearing and learning about in the world of technology.
Have you heard some of the jokes about the new iPad? The Apple iPad 1.0…Now available in mini, maxi & super maxi. 2.0…with wings and flow control. Or the sniping? “Obviously there were no women on the naming team.”
Since we’re all about the communication here at Dr. K’s blog, let’s first deal with this business about the name. Because to believe that a word, like ‘pad,’ belongs exclusively to a single concept, like feminine hygiene products, is to misunderstand the very nature of language. Words are symbols, and each of us has a uniquely personal representation for each word-symbol we use, with the result that many words mean many things to many people.
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by Dr. Rick Kirschner on January 25, 2010
Like many Americans, I watched the Massachusetts special election results this past week with great interest. But I was not just interested in the proposals and policies the winner might advocate, but more interested in the themes and messaging of each. And from the looks of things, only one of those campaigns seemed to get it right, as the Democrat’s support collapsed and the Republican campaign ascended to victory.
Much has been made from the left and from the right about what it all means. Clearly, the radical right has been energized by the election. Their spokesmodels (Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, and most the talking heads on Fox News in general) are inspired in their determination to scare the bejesus out of middle of the road Americans about the agenda of the radical left, which they claim is the driving force in every decision made by Obama. They have no trouble ignoring any evidence to the contrary (more troops to Afghanistan, shifting taxpayer money to the financial sector bailout) They have no trouble exaggerating facts into fantasy and then speaking that fantasy with a single voice.
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