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This Land of Strangers

"..the most important book of the decade." — Richard Boyatzis, co-author of best seller Primal Leadership

Relationships, in all their varied forms, have been the lifetime study of Robert Hall. He brings a rare combination of experience as a researcher, consultant, writer, teacher and CEO in dealing with the real-world relationship challenges of modern organizations. When coupled with a decade of hands-on experience in the gritty world of inner-city homeless families it translates into a tapestry of vivid stories, well-researched and oft startling facts, and strategic insights that weave together the yet untold narrative of society's gravest risk and most stellar opportunity.

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Robert has published more than 150 columns, articles, white papers, and research studies on relationship. In addition to being a regular contributor at Huffington Post, his work has been published and discussed in Forbes, American Banker, Sales & Marketing Management magazine, The CEO Magazine, ABA Bank Marketing magazine, Computerworld, The Daily Beast, Business Week, The Dallas Morning News, Los Angeles Times, The Detroit News, The Indianapolis Star and in international publications including Sydney Morning News (Australia), European Financial Management Association (London) and Relational Thinking Network (Cambridge, UK).

How to Avoid a Thanksgiving Food Fight, by Michelle Cottle, quotes Robert Hall, The Daily Beast

Dec 15

Click here to read the article “How to Avoid a Thanksgiving Food Fight” by Michelle Cottle, writer for The Daily Beast, on Robert E. Hall’s new book This Land of Strangers.

Excerpt:

In terms of our substantive beliefs, the nation has not become radically more divided, clarifies relationship specialist Robert E. Hall, author of the book This Land of Strangers. The big shift, he says, is that “we have exaggerated our differences and joined tribes that celebrate and exaggerate those differences and […]

Article

The 2012 Election, by Robert Hall, Huffington Post

Dec 12

“By mid October, the Obama team had personally… spoken with each voter 5 times. Not ‘sent a letter’ but actually spoken, face-to-face, or via phone, on average 5 times!” Tomi T. Ahonen, Communities-Dominate.Blogs.com, describing personal contacts of targeted voters.

Politics aside, one of the defining stories of the 2012 presidential election was how sales and marketing relationship-building efforts delivered unexpected, targeted voter turnout. Even the Romney campaign was in awe of the Obama “ground game.” While much has been made about Obama’s sophisticated […]

Article

Proud Nation Disconnecting, by Mike Masterson, quotes Robert Hall, Arkansas Democrat Gazette

Dec 7

Click here to read the article “Proud Nation Disconnecting” by Mike Masterson via the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, on Robert E. Hall’s latest book This Land of Strangers.

Excerpt:

Hall penned the book This Land of Strangers: The Relationship Crisis that Imperils Home, Work, Politics and Faith, in which he documents how we have steadily become a nation adrift whose citizens aren’t anchored in much that endures. From our relationships to our jobs, families, politics and even our organized faiths, words nowadays […]

Article

Surviving Thanksgiving and the Relational Cliff, by Robert Hall, Huffington Post

Dec 7

Collectively this relational decline is the most destructive trend we face. We are becoming a society of strangers and estrangement. Who would have guessed that sports — inherently competitive and partisan — would be one of the safest topics at the Thanksgiving table this year? How did we get here?

A series of wonderful societal advancements have produced unintended consequences: devalued relationships.

…General Peter Pace, addressing sectarian violence at the height of the Iraq war, said, “If the Iraqi people as a […]

Article

A Human Deficit, Russ Pulliam, IndyStar.com (Review: This Land of Strangers)

Dec 7

Click here to read the article “A Human Deficit” by Russ Pulliam, Associate Editor of The Indianapolis Star, on Robert E. Hall’s latest book, This Land of Strangers.

“Think of it as an updated version of Robert Putnam’s book, ‘Bowling Alone,’ one with plenty of data.”

Article