Show Notes: Can you imagine being locked in a small building at the geographic South Pole for nine months straight, in 100-degree-below-zero weather, with 40 people you didn't choose? When friction inevitably happens, you can't walk away.

This week, host Laura Hansen Breksa sits down with international peacebuilding expert and conflict mediator Shawn Dunning to explore how we can strategically direct our time, energy, and talents to solve big, messy problems instead of letting them fester.

Shawn takes us on a fascinating ride through his 25-year career—sharing how he discovered his unique talent as a teenager in the principal's office, why he took a 50% pay cut to chase his purpose, and how he uses high-adventure challenges to kinesthetically teach Israelis, Palestinians, and corporate executives how to get along.

1. How do you know when it’s time to pivot your talents away from a practical career (like engineering) toward work that genuinely impacts others?
2. Why is avoiding a problem harder than collaborating, and how does "escape" drain our energy over time?
3. What is the structural difference between a compromise and a win-win solution, and how do we co-create them in our own backyards?

Hit play to learn how to stop sitting in conflict, start uncovering underlying needs, and begin investing your energy where it makes the highest impact.

https://shawnmdunning.com/

• The Principal's Office / First Mediation Story

  (00:25) "I think if I were to go back to a point where that started, it's probably my junior or senior year in high school..."

• The South Pole Crew Training Story

  (03:48) "And you asked me about the South Pole crew. So that's one of my more interesting clients. I'm now in the 11th year..."

• The Croatia Mountain Storm / Israeli & Palestinian Expedition Story

  (11:15) "I'll give you an example. A few years ago... when I was working with the Israelis and Palestinians, there was one very, very challenging experience that we had one time in Croatia..."