Abstract
Established in 2015 in partnership with the Duke Sanford School of Public Policy, the North Carolina Leadership Forum (NCLF) facilitates constructive engagement between North Carolina policy, business, and non-profit leaders across party lines, ideologies, professional experiences, and regional perspectives. NCLF’s goal is to develop a cohort of state leaders who have the will, the skills, and the relationships with each other to work constructively with others of different political parties or ideologies. When the program was conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic and a very tense political election, the experience of the online dialogue was unique and unusual. This chapter describes key lessons learned about how an online format can be used to enhance or enable dialogue across differences on highly polarized issues.
