Be the Change: TogetherUp Interview with John Sarrouf
“The work of Essential Partners is to bring people back down to their lived experience, to their hopes, to their stories, to the things that are important. Because conflict flattens people. Polarization makes us one-dimensional. Dialogue makes us living breathing human beings again.”
EP Co-Executive Director John Sarrouf joins Nicole Argo from the TogetherUp Institute and Scott Hutcheson from the E Pluribus Unum Fund to talk about the power of healthy dialogue to overcome polarization, strengthen communities, and create genuine belonging for every person.
“Dialogue is really about building new patterns,” Sarrouf explains, “patterns that will serve us, that build trust, where people’s full selves are invited in. Then if you want to move to action and collaboration, do it! You can continue on to collective action—but keep the patterns of deep listening, invitation, reflection, asking good questions, and when you get stuck go back to dialogue. It's all part of a continuum.”