How to build deeper, more robust relationships | Carole Robin (Stanford GSB professor, “Touchy Feely”)

The most meaningful relationships are achieved when you and others can speak openly to each other about everything that’s important, learn together, and understand the need to hold each other accountable to be as excellent as you can be. When you have such relationships with those you work with, you pull each other through challenging times; at the... See more

If you want to get close to someone, you must enter what I call the zone of engagement. This is the space where people get close enough to each other to become vulnerable. Vulnerability causes fear and fear leads to conflict. But if the conflict is handled properly, a real bond is created. Conflict becomes a kind of sense organ through which you re

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The real act of, say, building a friendship or creating a community involves performing a series of small, concrete social actions well: disagreeing without poisoning the relationship; revealing vulnerability at the appropriate pace; being a good listener; knowing how to end a conversation gracefully; knowing how to ask for and offer forgiveness; k

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