David Murray’s new book, “An Effort to Understand,” is a collection of essays drawn from many years of posts to his blog, Writing Boots. Addressing the challenges of communicating with one another in a polarized society, the book is structured first to define communication, then move from the personal to the organizational. Like the society on which the book is focused, not everyone will agree with everything in the book, but Murray offers sage wisdom about how to engage in conversations about these matters.

In this interview, FIR co-host Shel Holtz talks with Murray about the book, including his assertion that it is not communication if you know the outcome and that communication should not be civil.

Some of those watching the live stream of the interview asked questions and shared observations, to which David responded during the conversation.

About our Conversation Partner

David Murray heads the global Professional Speechwriters Association and comments daily on communication issues on his popular blog Writing Boots. Murray is also editor and publisher of Vital Speeches of the Day, one of the world’s longest continuously published magazines. An award-winning journalist, Murray is the author of Raised By Mad Men, a memoir about his advertising parents, and co-author of the New York Times bestseller Tell My Sons: A Father’s Last Letters.

His latest book is An Effort to Understand: Hearing One Another (and Ourselves) in a Nation Cracked in Half. This book is available through Amazon and other booksellers.

Connect with Murray on Twitter.