Learn to Disagree More Effectively

About this episode

Julia Minson discusses the importance of effective disagreement for better decision-making.

Disagreement is essential to better decisions—but most of us either avoid it or handle it poorly. Julia Minson is a professor of public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, and she's spent years studying disagreement and what we get wrong. She explains why intent matters less than behavior, how leaders can model “receptiveness,” and why the goal of a good disagreement isn’t to win—but to keep the conversation going. Minson is the coauthor of the HBR article "A Smarter Way to Disagree" and author of the book How to Disagree Better.

People in this episode

Guest: Julia Minson

Topics covered

• disagreement
• decision making
• leadership
• communication
• public policy

Keywords

• disagreement
• decision making
• leadership
• communication
• public policy
• receptiveness
• conversation

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Harvard Kennedy School of Government, Harvard Business Review

Books & works: A Smarter Way to Disagree, How to Disagree Better

More episodes of HBR IdeaCast

• We All Hate Meetings—Here’s How to Make Them Work · June 9, 2026 · 26 min
• Reinventing an Organization to Do More with Less · June 2, 2026 · 28 min
• What Leads Companies to Betray Their Own Principles · May 26, 2026 · 29 min
• How to Break Free of Negative Thought Spirals · May 19, 2026 · 30 min
• The Leadership Skills That Make Transformation Stick · May 12, 2026 · 31 min
• New Skills to Navigate Continuous Change · May 5, 2026 · 31 min