Dr. Donna Hicks is one of our keynote speakers at the Spring CDT Conference. She is based at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University. Donna has successfully applied her dignity model on a global stage. Her clients include the World Bank, the United Nations, the US Navy, a major US legacy airline, and governments worldwide. She currently helps leaders in business, health care, government, education and other fields create cultures that foster innovation and dignified human relationships. Dr. Hicks is a dynamic thought-provoking speaker who brings insights on dignity and conflict resolution to each of her presentations. Her ideas on human interaction allow organizations to build a culture of dignity, heal emotional wounds, and thrive in today’s global marketplace.
Donna has worked for twenty years as a facilitator in the Middle East, Sri Lanka, Colombia, Cuba, Northern Ireland and the United States. Her focus on the essential role dignity plays in resolving conflict has transformed work environments for the world’s most prominent companies, non-profits, and governmental agencies.
As a co-host with Archbishop Desmond Tutu on the BBC show, Facing the Truth, Donna was a key member of a three-part television series which brought victims and perpetrators of the Northern Ireland conflict together to find resolution. She has educated the nation’s brightest minds at Harvard, Clark, and Columbia Universities. In 2013, she spoke at the TEDx Stormont conference, themed “Imagine,” on the topic of dignity.
Donna is the author of a bestselling book, Dignity: The Essential Role It Plays in Resolving Conflict, published by Yale University Press, with a foreword by Archbishop Desmond Tutu. The title was the New England Book Festival’s 2011 runner-up for best non-fiction title, and subsequently released in paperback in 2013. Donna has been featured prominently in the media, appearing on the BBC, Fox News, Psychology Today, NPR, Newsday, and radio stations across the country.
Her presentation at the CDT Spring Conference is entitled: “Dignity: The Role it Plays in Our Lives and Relationships.”
Donna believes dignity is a major motivating force behind all human interaction. Surprisingly, most people have little understanding of dignity, yet it is our highest common denominator. While a desire for dignity is universal, knowing how to honor it in ourselves and others is not—it needs to be learned. The talk will present a definition of dignity, the elements of dignity, the ten temptations to violate dignity and how to put dignity into practice in everyday life.
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