Persuade, Don't Preach: Restoring Civility Across the Political Divide

Endorsed by Richard Rohr: “This book is a helpful guide to how to understand people in such a way that you can talk to them more productively.“

Would you like to have Thanksgiving without yelling at your uncle about politics? Now, Persuade, Don’t Preach gives you tools to have productive conversations with those you don’t agree with.

Now with a special section on COVID-19 and mask-wearing.
Chosen as part of the Civility project at Oakland City University.

As a society, we’ve become so polarized, we barely know how to talk to each other anymore. When we disagree, we often preach. And then the other person freezes or explodes. We wind up even more polarized than we were to begin with. What’s the key to get past this? It all comes down to persuading instead of preaching. Karen Tibbals distills the latest social science research to create a practical plan for talking to others in a respectful way — a way that enables people to get past their differences.

Persuade, Don’t Preach explains why people differ, why particular groups of people focus on certain issues, and why what the typical tactics simply don’t work. This knowledge will foster empathy and help you develop a plan for approaching people you disagree with in a way that restores civility and allows them to listen.

About the Author: Karen Tibbals is a passionate author and speaker who has spent decades as a marketing researcher studying why people act the way they do. She took a detour from that career for a degree in religion, which transformed how she thinks about life and politics and led to her create the Ethical Frames model. Karen has written two books — Persuade, Don’t Preach and Marketing Landmines — that apply her unique paradigm to life as well as marketing.

Testimonials:From Brent Bill, Quaker author: “Persuade, Don’t Preach is an important resource for those who would like to see more civil discourse around hard issues in our polarized society. Quakers and others who seek to see that of God in all people will find it especially helpful.”

From Patricia Kane, former Director of Education, NJ Audubon :[Persuade, Don’t Preach] is an amazing breakthrough on getting productive dialogue started … with examples [that] are simple and easy to implement and adapt to personal style.
From Leigh Tolton, pastor of West Elkton Friends, "This amazing book is helping to save families!"