When former Wall Street banker Adam Mizel decided he could no longer sit on the sidelines watching the country come apart, he took a leap few would imagine—leaving a three-decade financial career to launch US United, a movement dedicated to rebuilding trust and dialogue in America. In this episode of Courageous Conversations About Our Schools, host Ken Futernick talks with Adam about what sparked that transformation and how his work is reshaping how people—and students—connect across divides.

How many of us would have the courage to have a conversation with someone who hates us? My guest, Daryl Davis, has done just that, not once, but for decades, with members of the Ku Kluz Klan and other hate groups, and many have renounced their ideology after getting to know him. A Black musician, Davis shares his unbelievable story driven by one powerful question: "How can you hate me when you don't even know me?" Prepare to be challenged to rethink how we and our students engage with those who seem the furthest from us.

In the end, nobody wins the culture wars, says journalist Monica Guzman. The key to transcending these conflicts is to become curious rather than confrontational — to reframe the us/them confusion with complexity. Guzman also urges us to reject the easy answers — the sense of certainty many of us feel that we have all of the answers and they don’t.

Becoming curious means we must become better listeners. Real listening demonstrates that we really understand and care about what others are thinking, Guzman says. Too often we’re only interested in conveying what we believe and trying to win arguments. When we listen, people begin to open up and to take risks, and that’s when real progress can be made.

In this podcast interview, Amanda Ripley suggests ways to respond to the “conflict entrepreneurs” that are fueling the culture wars in education, and she explains what it will take to shift from “high conflict”—the kind that wreaks havoc on relationships and public discourse—to “healthy conflict” that schools and all of our public institutions need to thrive.