Return to Home

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.

Archives by Month:

Archives by Subject:

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).

Leadership: What We Know That Ain’t So and What It Requires, by Robert Hall, The CEO Magazine

Jul 16

…relationship itself is the real thing. We used to think all the energy was in the particles of the atom; now it seems that energy is, in fact, in the space between the particles. Richard Rohr, Everything Belongs

Much of the focus on strategic leadership either ignores or looks too narrowly at the importance of key relationships.

The latest leadership maxim to take a hit is maximizing shareholder value which focuses narrowly on the shareholder relationship. Steve Dunning at Forbes […]

Article

Drowning in Electronic Words, by Robert Hall, Huffington Post

Jul 12

We are a society drowning in text and starving for touch. The onslaught of electronic interactions and transactions has structurally changed how we relate. Email, texts, tweets, on-line purchases and kiosks that dispense everything from cash to gasoline have made unspoken words and icons the center of our universe.

What we are losing is nonverbal touch — a look that encourages, a hand that warms, a tone that soothes, a smile that greets, a wink that acknowledges, a lean-in that reinforces. […]

Article

Marriage Equality: Putting Relationships First, by Robert Hall, Huffington Post

Jun 6

Our fight over same-sex marriage is a battle about relationships that is increasingly eroding relationships. Our diverse and entrenched beliefs about how to be together are driving us apart. What would be useful at this stage is a more relationship-centric approach to disagreement.

Judging from the volume and tone of the debate, our relationships matter a lot, yet, ironically, the depth, duration and number of close relationships continue to decline. My Flight From Relationships (FFR) Index, which charts the rate of […]

Article

The CEO as Chief Relationship Officer, by Robert Hall, The CEO Magazine

Jun 6

At some point, the strategy is to execute.

While the CEO role as chief strategy decider gets much of the hype, it is the challenge of business execution that so often drives results – or not. And, sustained execution is a relationship game. It is a matter of building relational commitment that leads stakeholders – subordinate managers, employees, customers, shareholders, and suppliers – to perform unnatural acts. Acts like reporting

bad news that no one wants to hear, committing fully […]

Article

The Death of Relationships, by Ron Fournier, quotes Robert Hall, National Journal

Apr 5

Click here to read the article “The Death of Relationships” by Ron Fournier, quoting Robert E. Hall. Article originally appeared on nationaljournal.com, April 5 2013.

Atlanta teachers are accused of cheating. Yahoo bans telecommuting. A Rutgers basketball coach hurls balls and epithets at his players. Meanwhile, in Washington, the president and House Republicans can’t or won’t bridge their differences and regain the trust of voters.

These seemingly disparate strands have in common a single, sobering sociological trend: People today are more separate and […]

Article

Our Relationship Crash: The Biggest Story Never Told, by Robert Hall

Apr 5

When you gather up all the numbers and make an index out of them – let’s call it the Flight from Relationships Index (FFR Index) – the trend becomes clear and sobering. Remember that old Simon and Garfunkel song “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover”? The FFR Index might be called the 16 ways we have left our relationships.

Click here to read the whole article.

Article

In Big Data, We Hope and Distrust, by Robert Hall, Huffington Post

Apr 4

“In God we trust. All others must bring data.” — W. Edwards Deming, statistician, quality guru

• • •

Big data helped re-elect a President, find Osama bin Laden, and contributed to the melt-down of our financial system. We are in the midst of a data revolution where social media introduces new terms like Arab Spring, Facebook Depression and Twitter anxiety that reflect a new reality: big data is changing the social and relationship fabric of […]

Article

The Relationship Perils of Job Loss, by Robert Hall, Huffington Post

Mar 13

The handsome, articulate young man sitting across from me looked hollow and slightly hopeless as he recounted that four years ago, everything looked great for him and his young bride. He had a good job with a top financial organization and was working on a master’s degree when cutbacks left him unemployed. Now four year later and still jobless, he confided that he and his wife are near divorce, mental health issues have surfaced, and isolation especially from work and […]

Article

Did Yahoo Blow It?, by Louis Bedigian, quotes Robert Hall, Benzinga

Mar 6

Click here to read the article “Did Yahoo Blow It?” by Louis Bedigian, quoting Robert E. Hall. Article originally appeared on benzinga.com, March 2013.

When Yahoo (NASDAQ: YHOO [FREE Stock Trend Analysis]) CEO Marissa Mayer sent out a memo to inform employees that they will no longer be allowed to work from home, she likely expected to receive a few complaints. She had no idea it would set off an Internet firestorm.

Virtually every mainstream publication has covered the story — many have done so multiple times. […]

Article

Come Back, St. Valentine, by Robert Hall, Pittsburg Post-Gazette

Feb 12

St. Valentine was a third-century priest martyred for marrying soldiers at a time when Roman Emperor Claudius II had decreed single men made better fighters. Other lore suggests St. Valentine was killed for attempting to help Christians escape Roman prisons where they were tortured. Regardless of its exact roots, Valentine’s Day honors loving relationships — romantic, platonic, familial or collegial.

About those loving relationships … Even though our Valentine’s Day expressions keep growing — more than 150 million Valentine cards will […]

Article