Monica Guzman is Braver Angels’ Senior Fellow for Public Practice and the author of the best-selling book “I Never Thought of It That Way: How to Have Fearlessly Curious Conversations in Dangerously Divided Times.” Over the past few months, Monica’s been traveling the country to lead curious conversations inspired by the themes of her book. Here she joins Braver Angels CMO Ciaran O’Connor to discuss what she’s learned about the state of our nation’s divisions, how different audiences engage bridge-building depending on their ideologies and identities, and how we can get more curious, together, as a nation in crisis.
How a Christian conservative found his way to Braver Angels
06/09/2026
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As a young man, Daniel’s father emerged from a broken, dysfunctional home looking for direction and found it while attending a Billy Graham crusade in Chicago. There, he “walked forward”—committing himself to Jesus Christ and changing the trajectory of his family. Not long after, he married Daniel’s mom, a Christian convert whose grandparents sought refuge in America after escaping pogroms in Europe.
1 thought on “What Curiosity Can Teach Us | Monica Guzman with Ciaran O’Connor ”
I’m so grateful for the people who are taking the time to talk with each other and to be curious about how to reach out, how to make outreach work.
My training and experience, learning and teaching keeps bringing me back to basic structural issues. I think we need to teach dialogue as a skill. High school programs usually focus on debate. I’ve noticed that debate is a word used by Braver Angels as a part of the process. I think that’s a mistake because debate is inherently competitive.
I will continue to reach out and suggest that we use the term dialogue and that we teach the difference between dialogue and debate. Thanks.