Choose an open mind: Certainty is my enemy. Nuance is my friend.
Mark, a good friend and a UK expat living in the Middle East, came to visit me several years ago. After years of spending a week or so together at conferences, this was a rare treat to finally host him. The time we spent together on my backyard patio and at the local neighborhood pub was one of the joys of my life. After we enjoyed pizza and beer at the pub, I introduced my well-traveled friend to another American delicacy. Kentucky Bourbon. Mark schooled me on the differences between the simple taste of bourbon in comparison to the complexity of Scotch whiskey. But he made another comparison that I’ll never forget. “Rich, I don’t understand why Americans don’t talk with each other. You have two political parties. In my local pub, I might have three or four parties represented and yet we sip pints and enjoy each other.” Besides…