In this interview, Scott Newton tells us about the philosophy that underlies the work of a facilitator and discloses some of his tools and strategies, as well as the new technologies that are being studied to facilitate the activity of discussing and debating. He also shares with us his successes and failures as a group leader, the worldwide need for facilitators to help with transitions, and why political and financial interests are a bottleneck to positive change happening faster in our world.

Scott is a facilitator and stakeholder engagement strategist. What that means is that it is his job to get very diverse groups of people to discuss, debate and come up with solutions while avoiding conflict. His journey through public relations, communications, recruiting, marketing and consultancy has given him a wide range of tools that he now uses to lead groups through well-designed processes. He has worked for State government, local government, non-for-profit organizations and corporations, and across all sectors - education, health, legal, transport, etc.