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Sometimes we can get uncomfortably reminded that we know less than we think. Or that our stories are not as accurate as we once believed. For me, the story was that I was a quiet but dedicated supporter of equality and racial justice. One night a few years back, a woman asked a simple question that opened my eyes to how little I knew. A bit of discomfort can be a helpful reminder of where we need to grow. 

In this episode of the Changemakers Field Guide, I continue a series on dealing with people – looking at the history of civil rights in America, with lessons on how NOT to treat people. Righting wrongs always involves acknowledging there’s a problem. Listening to the stories and experiences of Black people is a critical step in living up to our ideals of justice.

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What does it take to get ahead in the world? Do we need to claw our way to the top, determined to win at all costs? Or can we succeed by bringing others along, working for mutual gain? In this latest episode of the Changemakers’ Field Guide, I explore the value of cooperation through the lens of evolutionary psychology, as part of a series looking at dealing with people.

Studying the past, and in particular how our ancient ancestors managed to survive and ultimately flourish in a landscape filled with danger. Contrary to what we often hear, fierce competitiveness and being the strongest isn’t a guarantee for survival. Those humans who survived and passed on their genes didn’t succeed just through brute force or ruthlessness. Rather, their superpower was cooperation. They outcooperated their prey and rival animals competing for that prey. They were better at sharing knowledge and skills than any other animal. We’re here today because of their ability to cooperate well.

While our challenges today are very different from our ancient ancestors on the savanna, cooperation remains a critical skill. Realistically, cooperation is more important than ever in the complex and deeply interconnected world we live in. Join me as I look at ways we can cooperate better and ensure our story continues to be told!

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One of the first lessons I learned as a young boy also happens to be one of the most important lessons I’ve learned to this day. I was about four or five years old, and my mom sat me down on the edge of the bed one evening. “This is the Golden Rule,” she said, looking me gently in the eyes. “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” No doubt I looked confused, and she continued to explain: “You like it when people are nice to you, right? So be nice to other people. You don’t like it when someone is mean to you? So don’t be mean to other people.”

This episode is the fifth in a series looking at dealing with people. When it comes to practical advice for interacting with our fellow humans, few practices are as clear as the Golden Rule. In this episode, I’ll explore its historical background and insights into practicing the Golden Rule in modern times.

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There’s a good chance you will encounter someone soon that is a pain in your backside. Maybe it’s someone rude in line at the sandwich shop. Or a coworker talking over you at a meeting, undermining your efforts to make themselves look better in front of the boss. Or maybe someone is wrong on the internet. There is no shortage of frustrating behaviors when it comes to dealing with human beings.

In this episode of the Changemakers Field Guide, I explored some ideas from Stoicism that can help us maintain tranquility even when facing difficult people. Whether you’re an average person or the leader of a company or the ruler of an empire, you will encounter some real jerks at times. It pays to have some practical tools to respond well and keep our mental peace.

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I’ve taken a risky stance in this latest episode of the Changemakers’ Field Guide: I’ve gone full moderate on the subject of political divisiveness. I explored some insights from Taoism on the unity of opposites that can help us to find balance in our lives and interactions — not least in the way we interact with people who hold different views.

Taoism points to a flow between opposites, in which each side supports the other. Within light, there is an element of darkness; within dark, there is an element of light. Recognizing the value of the other side contributes to harmony. Overemphasizing one side over the other contributes to toxicity. These insights Taoist insights offer a valuable perspective on dealing better with other humans.

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If I could choose a superpower, it wouldn’t be speed or strength or lasers out of my eyes. I’d choose something far more practical: immeasurable compassion. The world needs kindness and compassion a heck of a lot more than it needs people who can bend metal with their hands. In this episode of the Changemakers’ Field Guide podcast, I explore the Buddhist concept and practice of compassion.

This episode is the second in a series looking at ways to work better with other people. Cultivating compassion can help us to gain a better perspective on human behavior, in turn helping us to feel more joy and peace in our interactions.

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Working with people we know and like and see eye-to-eye with is often hard enough. Working to address major issues like climate change raises the stakes – and the difficulties – of collaboration. Competing agendas, unhealthy forms of competition, power imbalances, and dealing with toxic antagonism can stymie our efforts to cooperate our way to success.

Effective collaboration is critical. So we might as well get as good as we can.

Join me as I kick off this series on dealing with people. I'll explore some ideas from across time and around the world on how we can get along and collaborate better with other humans.

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Daniel Kahneman’s Thinking, Fast and Slow was one of the most influential books I read in the last decade, if not my life. His insights into how our minds work have changed the way I think about decision-making and human interaction in general. In the latest episode of my podcast, the Changemakers’ Field Guide, I explore some of these insights. Understanding some of the biases and errors in judgment that our minds (ALL of our minds) produce can help improve the quality of our decisions. Or at the very least, help us go easier on ourselves when we make inevitable mistakes in judgment!

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In the latest episode of the Changemakers’ Field Guide, I travel back in time 200,000 years to the dawn of Homo sapiens. Our ancestors were very good at their jobs of survival. Favorable adaptations in our brains arose due to specific evolutionary pressures, constantly repeated over millions of years. However, the complex world we’re in today definitely doesn’t resemble those conditions. Our ability to survive and flourish will undoubtedly depend on how well our brain can adapt to this complexity.

Cooperation, communication, and prioritization of threats helped our ancestors. While the scale of our problems is exponentially larger, these same cognitive programs can still serve us well.

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To understand the present, we must understand the past. No field of study does this quite like Big History. This emerging discipline looks WAY back in the past, tracing a path from the Big Bang to modern times, with rising complexity at each step of the way. In this episode of the Changemakers’ Field Guide, we take a journey through space and time, exploring some insights from Big History to shine light on the complex problems of today.