Amplify Speakers
Navigating Political Divides & Civil Discourse at Work
Most organizations have a rule against discussing politics at work. Most organizations also have a Slack channel where it happens anyway, a team that quietly split into two camps after the last election cycle, and a manager who has no idea how to handle the moment someone brings up the news in a meeting.
Banning the conversation doesn't resolve the tension, it just moves it underground, where it does more damage to trust than an honest, well-facilitated conversation ever would. The organizations handling this well aren't avoiding disagreement. They're building the specific skill of disagreeing without destroying the relationship.
These are the speakers we trust to address this directly — not by picking a side, but by giving teams a real framework for staying in relationship with people they disagree with.
The Roster
Why This Deserves Its Own Session, Not a Policy Memo
An HR policy can tell people what not to say. It cannot teach them how to stay curious about someone they disagree with, or how to de-escalate a conversation that's heating up in real time. That's a skill, and like any skill it can be taught.
Sean Fisher runs an actual mediation firm, which means de-escalation isn't a keynote topic for him, it's his day job. Pamela Barnum spent years as an undercover officer and federal prosecutor, where misreading a person's intent had real consequences, giving her a grounded, non-theoretical approach to trust and reading a room accurately instead of assuming the worst. Nadine Zeinoun's VITA Framework treats emotional intelligence as inseparable from how people actually communicate under tension, which is exactly where political conversations at work tend to go wrong.
Who Books This
HR and people-leader conferences looking for practical de-escalation skills, not just a policy statement. Leadership teams heading into an election year or a period of public controversy touching their industry. Any organization that has had a visible incident, walkout, or internal conflict tied to outside political events and wants to rebuild trust without pretending it didn't happen.
What This Is Not
None of these speakers deliver a partisan talk or take a side on a specific issue. The content is entirely about the skill of staying in relationship across disagreement, not about which position is correct.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Will this speaker take a political side?No. The content is deliberately built around the skill of civil disagreement and de-escalation, not around any specific political position. These are not activist talks.
Is this really a keynote topic, or should it be a workshop?Many organizations do both: a keynote to set the tone and name the problem honestly, followed by a smaller breakout or workshop where teams can practice the actual skills. Ask us about format options.
What if our organization has already had a visible incident tied to this?Tell us what happened. The right speaker and framing depends heavily on whether you're being proactive or repairing something that already occurred.
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