Donna Hicks

Donna Hicks is an Associate at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University. She also works as a consultant to corporations and organizations, applying her dignity model to everyday business and relational situations.

Her new book is Dignity: The Essential Role It Plays in Resolving Conflict in Our Lives and Relationships.

From Hicks's Q & A at the Boston Globe:

Q. Your book came out of your work trying to help political leaders in countries like Sri Lanka address international conflicts?

A. One of the disturbing aspects of my job is these conflicts are never resolved. It is emotional issues keeping these people apart. Nobody wants to say they’ve been emotionally wounded by the other side. There’s a stigma associated with that. We call these underlying emotional riptides “dignity violations.’’

Q. And then you realized that this is a universal human need - for what you term “dignity’’?

A. Everyone, when we come into the world, we have value and we’re worthy of being treated well. What is it about dignity that just makes it impossible for us to have a relationship with someone when our dignity has been violated by them?

Q. Is this a health issue? Can we be physically harmed by having our dignity violated?

A. The research is...[read on]

Learn more about the book and author at Donna Hicks's website and blog.

The Page 99 Test: Dignity.

--Marshal Zeringue