Newsworthy Founder: Brave Public Dialogues, Cancel Culture + Gin & Tonic with Michaële Antoine

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Today’s guest is working to take the training wheels off talk. Michaële Antoine, Founder of Curios, is a master facilitator, educator, and consultant focused on equipping individuals, teams, and the community with the practical skillset to have conversations that matter. In the  episode to follow, Michaële and Lexie dive into the topic of brave dialogues – specifically, how and when to participate – when to facilitate – and how to navigate a world more frequently succumbing to “cancel culture”.

Highlights:

• What is Curios? Michaële decided to help organizations and individuals engage in difficult conversations surrounding topics that might be considered hard, taboo or controversial.

• Let’s have a brave dialogue. Michaële explains what a brave dialogue is, and that to engage in a brave dialogue, you must lean into your vulnerability. It’s about having conversations even if you are afraid of the outcome, and being willing to listen and take accountability when you are mistaken.

• Michaële doesn’t find cancel culture effective, because if people are afraid to speak, they won’t engage in difficult conversations and brave dialogues.

• Michaële believes that sometimes you have to be uncomfortable in order to grow. For her, if you are going to stay silent, let it be for the right reasons, not because you are afraid to speak out, or afraid of the repercussions.

• What does it mean to be a facilitator? The facilitator is responsible for the group and tries to guide the group towards the goal of a given session. You must know what triggers you and be comfortable in admitting when you are wrong or don’t know something.

• Michaële has a boundary set around someone who is not willing to listen. You can’t force people to listen to you, but you can choose if you are going to engage in those conversations and how.

• Should an institution participate in controversial topics? For Michaëlle, it’s not about if one should or shouldn’t, it’s about what the institution is doing on the inside.