Ted Audio Collective

I advise companies on lots of different issues, and you know what one of the most challenging

parts is getting to consensus, making sure that there's buy-in and agreement on XYZ

decision, or document, or vision, or plan.

And the reason that getting to consensus is tough is that often there's no right or

wrong answer, and each person, or team, or department has something that's true for

them, but might not be true for everybody.

So the question becomes, how do we decide?

Do we need a year-long process involving hundreds, sometimes even thousands of people so that

everyone's voice is heard?

Or when is a smaller group of decision-makers the right choice?

I mean, do more people in a process get us closer or farther away from the truth?

I'm Madu Backenola, this is Ted Business.

Our speaker today is Catherine Mar, a strategist, technologist, and policy expert.

In this talk, she shares a new method for fostering productive conversations and decision-making

that can work even when people disagree or have strong opinions.

Catherine specifically uses Wikipedia contributors as an example, and shows how they're able to

unite around bringing free and reliable information to the public, despite their sometimes disparate

beliefs.

Then after the talk, I'll share some insights and processes that can be used for more

effective decision-making in our organizations.

First, a quick break.

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