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).

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

Jan 24

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 […]

Blog Post

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

Oct 29

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 […]

Article

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

Oct 8

“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 […]

Article

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

Aug 16

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 […]

Article

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 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