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Harry Webne-Behrman will be a speaker at Saturday’s TEDx conference in Fitchburg, a gathering of about 120 people who will talk about Technology, Entertainment and Design that is similar to other events held across the country and around the world.

Webne-Behrman’s topic: The Culture of Generosity Project, an effort he is helping to start that is meant to encourage people to work collaboratively. Webne-Behrman also is a training officer at UW-Madison who specializes in mediation and conflict resolution and co-owns a mediation business. The conference is sold out but the talks will be webcast at tedxmadison.com.

So collaboration and generosity are closely related.

Yes, and it has a lot to do, in my mind, with a reframing of self and self-interest — if we view ourselves as being interconnected and the fundamental building block of society rather than thinking of being individual. Relationships are the fundamental building blocks on which we can bring about the changes that can help us address the complex issues that we’re facing as a society.

p>What do you think of what’s going on at the Capitol?

One thing that’s really important in my work as a mediator is that when there are conflicts in which people are entrenched, I invite them to consider possibilities that are elusive to them. ... What is lacking in the dispute in the Capitol is any fundamental resolve to engage in such discussion, on either side of the dispute. … It is a power conversation, with the belief that politics is a zero-sum game. ... There are lots of legislators ... in government who really do know how to bring people together and get them to talk with each other and understand their concerns. We can build coalitions of people in a constructive way.

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Read Full Article at Source:   Wisconsin State Journal