A sentence can sound factual and still carry a judgment. “You ignored me” feels like an observation, but it usually contains an evaluation about someone’s intention. “You looked at your phone while I was talking” gives everyone more room to respond. That difference sits at the heart of Marshall B. Rosenberg’s work in Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life. Rosenberg argues that conflict grows when people mix what they actually saw or heard with labels, blame, assumption

In 1999, Marshall Rosenberg visited Bogotá, Colombia, accompanied by Alan Seid and his son Brett. The visit was coordinated with Jorge Rubio, the first certified Nonviolent Communication trainer in the country. During 10 days, he worked with different sectors of society: a foundation of Catholic priests supporting street-connected children, students in schools and universities, as well as representatives from institutional spheres, including an army general, ombudspeople, hum

Today I want to talk about three topics that are intertwined: blind spots, rank, and double signals. When you drive a car, an important part of the process is knowing its blind spots. This protects you and protects other drivers. We know the car has blind spots, and there are several options for managing them: adjusting the mirrors, turning your head to look over your shoulder, using convex mirrors to widen the field of vision, or using electronic systems that alert you visua