Report on the “Focusing on the Referendum… Commitment to Respectful Dialogue” business matters breakfast discussion facilitated by John Sturrock on 3 April 2014.

business matters is very grateful to Pinsent Masons who hosted the event and provided a breakfast for those attending.

This was a fascinating and thought-provoking discussion, facilitated by John – however not particularly easy to report in print!

John started with some introductory thoughts (recording accessed using the icon at the foot of the page) arising from a recent biography of Nelson Mandela which prompted us to think about the nature of “right”, “wrong” and dialogue.

He pointed us to the “Collaborative Scotland” website which he and others have instigated and, in particular, to the “Commitment to Respectful Dialogue” which it contains (access a copy below).

After some 20 minutes John opened up the floor for discussion and those present highlighted a number of areas including the need to demonstrate to the young a better way of interacting, the influence that the media can have in the way that they report events and how each of us can play our part in modelling behaviours which are positive.

The second part of John’s talk (accessible below) took us deeper into a more philosophical consideration of our approach to life and challenged us again.

John finished by playing a video on “How to Start a Movement” (view by clicking icon below) which was both entertaining and thought-provoking.

Not easily summed up in a few paragraphs but definitely worth listening to the recordings available here.

Eric Smith
for business matters