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This Land of Strangers - Robert E Hall

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.

Blog & Articles

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).

Help Wanted, Now Hiring – Leader of the United States, by Robert Hall, Disinfo.com

On the heels of President Obama’s and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s on-going food fight, Hillary Clinton’s deleted emails and foreign contributions to her foundation, more shootings in Ferguson, and Congressional gridlock over budgets – we will hire a new President next year. Our recent hires have struggled: President Obama’s job approval averaged 42.6 percent for 2014 and former President Bush averaged 37 percent his second term. Congress approval in 2014 averaged a historic low of 15 percent. Americans now tell […]

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Article

Trap for Leaders: How Power Impacts the Brain and Relationships, by Robert Hall, Huffington Post

New evidence suggests power has similar effects on the frontal lobes as brain trauma…When you feel powerful, you kind of lose touch with other people. You stop attending carefully to what other people think. Dacher Keltner, University of California, Berkeley

How ironic. The very power leaders rely on to galvanize others and get things done carries the seeds of power loss. Leadership is relational. The ability to produce followership flows from a connection that engages and elicits commitment. Yet there is […]

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Article

Declaring War on Cultural War, by Robert Hall, Huffington Post

Sixty-seven percent of likely U.S. voters say America is a more divided nation than it was four years ago… 7 percent think the country is less divided now. — Rasmussen Reports 7/22/14

Warmongers — that is what we have become. Cultural warmongers who choose partisan warfare over collaborative problem-solving. The border immigration crisis and threats and counter-threats about impeaching the President are but the latest news from the frontlines. The larger news is this: Both sides — right and left — […]

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Article

Relational Leadership: Where Relationships Lead and Capital Follows, by Robert Hall, Huffington Post

Half of survey respondents identified lack of trust as a threat to their growth prospects – up sharply from 37 percent in 2013. – 17th Annual PwC CEO Survey

Distrust and disengagement in business has gone viral, infecting our relationships like drug-resistant superbugs. It is what happens when a society grows resistant to its leadership. CEOs see the trend and feel the heat. Richard Edelman, reviewing Edelman Trust’s latest trust survey, redefines today’s leadership priority for CEOs as being […]

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Article

World Vision: The Poor, the Gay, and the Wisdom of Solomon, by Robert Hall, Huffington Post

“Cut the baby in two.” That was wise King Solomon’s faux order to determine the real mother in the dispute of two mothers over an infant. By her scream, “please don’t kill my son” the real mother offered up her rights and revealed that her love for her baby exceeded her desire to win the dispute and the child. World Vision, the billion dollar Christian humanitarian aid organization, faced a similar dispute last week. It announced a change in its […]

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Article

The Disengagement Economy, by Robert Hall, Huffington Post

The costs of a “lost generation”… disconnected from both school and work… tops $4.7 trillion.” — Ben Casselman, Marcus Walker, “Wanted: Jobs for the New ‘Lost’ Generation,” Wall Street Journal, 9/14/13

Disengagement is a defining mega-trend in today’s world. With all the talk about “disengaged” leaders and followers not to mention the unemployed who are disengaged from work altogether, maybe we just go ahead and name our new normal the Disengagement Economy. Mostly we have given disengagement a pass because after all […]

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Article

Relationships in 2014: Ours Is A Society That Could Use a Hug, by Robert Hall, Huffington Post

She would be better off to start smoking again, because the interaction with other smokers in the designated break area would do her more good than the smoking would do her harm. — Doctor to the son of an 85 year-old resident at an Alzheimer facility.

In this New Year, ours is a society that could use a hug. It is hard to deny the importance of relationships. By any objective measure, the most compelling priority for this New Year […]

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Blog Post

Perpetual Halloween in Washington and the Ghost of Relationships Past, by Robert Hall, Huffington Post

In later centuries, people began dressing as ghosts, demons and other malevolent creatures, performing antics in exchange for food and drink. — History.com

The broken relationships of our country’s leaders now place us in a perpetual season of Halloween. The ghost and goblins of relational vitriol now frighten us with never-ending default on the debt, divide in the midst of a glitch-filled rollout of the Affordable Care Act, and inaction on immigration. We have always had our differences but this relationship […]

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Article

Standing on Political and Religious Principle-That Doesn’t Stand on Us, by Robert Hall, Huffington Post

“In short, the problem now across the Arab East is not just poison gas, but poisoned hearts. Each tribe or sect believes it is in a rule-or-die struggle against the next.” — Thomas Friedman, “Same Country, Different War,” The New York Times, 9/7/13

This rule-or-die struggle describes not just the Arab East but the growing political and religious divide in this country. We are in the silly season playoffs in Washington with pressing issues on Syria, the fund/defund health care debate, and […]

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Article

Is Big Data Shrinking Customer Engagement?, by Robert Hall, Huffington Post

Russia’s agency responsible for the Kremlin security is buying typewriters – a move reportedly prompted by recent leaks by WikiLeaks and Edward Snowden. — BBC News  — Europe, July 11, 2013

A key assumption behind Big Data is that more information and knowledge about our customers will translate into greater customer engagement, stronger relationships, and increased sales. What if the assumption is not fully true — and larger organizations with larger stores of data unleash forces of distrust […]

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Article