Dangerous Love: Transforming Fear and Conflict at Home, at Work, and in the World

＂Chad Ford reminds us that humanity lies within all of us, and although conflict is everywhere in today’s world, we have the tools we need to overcome obstacles and to thrive. This is a fantastic, timely book that I highly recommend.＂
--Steve Kerr, Head Coach, Golden State Warriors

Knowing how to transform conflict is critical in both our personal and professional lives. Yet, by and large, we are terrible at it. The reason, says longtime mediator Chad Ford, is fear. When conflict comes, our instincts are to run or fight.

To transform conflict, Ford says we need to turn toward the people we are in conflict with, put down our physical and emotional weapons, and really love them with the kind of love that leads us to treat others as fellow human beings, not as objects in our way. We have to open ourselves up with no guarantee that anyone on the other side will do the same. While this can feel even more dangerous than conflict itself, it allows us to see the humanity of others so clearly that their needs and desires matter to us as much as our own.

Ford shows dangerous love in action through examples ranging from his work in the Middle East to a deeply moving story about reconciling with his father. He explains why we disconnect from people at the very time we need to be most connected and the predictable patterns of justification and escalation that ensue. Most importantly, he gives us a path to practice dangerous love in the conflicts that matter most to us.

Chad Ford is associate professor of intercultural peacebuilding and director of the David O. McKay Center for Intercultural Understanding at Brigham Young University-Hawaii. He is the founder and program coordinator of the intercultural peacebuilding major and certificate at BYU-Hawaii. He sits on the executive committee of the Board of Trustees for PeacePlayers International, an innovative global organization that uses sport to unite and educate young people in divided communities. Ford has also worked over the past fifteen years with the Arbinger Institute as a facilitator, facilitator trainer, and managing director of global peacebuilding. He also spent seventeen years as a senior editor and writer at ESPN, publishing more than one thousand articles and making hundreds of television and radio appearances.