Participants at Wesleyan University’s “Dialogue For Change” conference included (l to r): Stephan Sonnenberg, associate professor of the practice in human rights advocacy and conflict resolution at Wesleyan; Bob Feldman, founder of the Dialogue Project at Duke University; Joe Bubman, founder and executive director, Urban Rural Action; Erika Franklin Fowler, professor of government at Wesleyan; and Scott Gottlieb, MD, who served as the 23rd commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration from 2017 to 2019.
Wesleyan University recently hosted “Dialogue For Change: From Conflict to Action,” a conference that brought together academics, as well as public and private sector leaders to discuss how to improve constructive dialogue in our society to help reduce polarization.
Dialogue Project founder Bob Feldman was a featured speaker, and participated on a panel that included Stephan Sonnenberg, associate professor of the practice in human rights advocacy and conflict resolution at Wesleyan; Scott Gottlieb, MD, who served as the 23rd commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration from 2017 to 2019; Erika Franklin Fowler, professor of government at Wesleyan; and Joe Bubman, founder and executive director, Urban Rural Action.
Bob represented the business community during the panel discussion, and he underscored a key message: it is no longer possible to keep social issues and politics out of the workplace. Whether the topic is tariffs, immigration, US ownership stakes in American corporations, the role of government funding in pharmaceutical research, and much more, the issues of government and business are deeply intertwined.
As such, Bob suggested, to the extent a polarized society inevitably means a polarized workforce, discussions in the workplace on the issues cited above often lead to debate and conflict. In fact, Bob shared recent research from SHRM (Society for Human Resource Management) that suggested that more than 70 million acts of incivility occur in the workplace every day. And the greatest driver: differences over political viewpoints.
When Bob founded the Duke Dialogue Project, he imagined a forum where academic rigor meets real-world practice, where students, faculty, and industry leaders could sit across the table from one another and co-create solutions to today’s most pressing challenges. That vision took a meaningful step forward at the Wesleyan conference, bringing Duke’s distinctive approach to a broader academic audience and an expanding network of collaborators.
Bob Feldman (center), founder of the Dialogue Project, emphasized that the growing role of government in business creates greater workplace politicization and therefore more training is required to help employees learn how to have civil, productive dialogue with colleagues in areas of disagreement.
At its core, the Duke Dialogue Project is about translating thoughtful conversations into tangible impact. Bob’s engagement at Wesleyan underscored two pillars central to Duke’s approach:
- Interdisciplinary, real-world relevance: The project thrives when Duke’s strengths—policy, business, technology, and the social sciences—are brought into dialogue with practitioners who live in the friction of daily decision-making. The Wesleyan forum provided a stage for that cross-pollination, reinforcing the belief that dialogue, when disciplined and purpose-driven, can shape curricula, inform research agendas, and seed internships and partnerships.
- Leadership through listening: Bob’s role at the conference highlighted a leadership ethos built on listening first—creating spaces where diverse voices are heard, insights are captured, and ideas are translated into action. This is not chatter for its own sake; it is deliberate, accountable exchange designed to generate concrete outcomes for students, faculty, and partner organizations.
While every dialogue carries its own texture, several threads consistently surfaced at Wesleyan and resonated with Duke’s ongoing work:
- A roadmap for practical impact: participants discussed how dialogue programs can drive measurable outcomes—case studies, co-designed courses, and joint research that translate to real-world decision-making.
- Partnerships as accelerants: the value of sustained, recurring engagements with industry and nonprofit partners was a recurrent theme. The vision is a tiered ecosystem where conversations lead to internships, capstone projects, and long-term collaborations.
- Ethical and inclusive dialogue: several sessions emphasized the importance of equity, trust, and civility in difficult conversations—principles that Duke has embedded in its own programs and seek to extend through the Dialogue Project’s framework.