Exit Strategies for Impossible Arguments

Trained to resolve conflict and build bridges, Janett Cordoves, the senior program director at the Institute for Citizens and Scholars, walked into her first job believing every disagreement can be fixed. She was faced with a supervisor who was immune to every tool she learned. What started as micromanagement turned into credit-taking, control, and a painful realization that good faith alone could not save a toxic relationship. Forced to choose between endless engagement and self-respect, Janet learned the hardest lesson in civil discourse: sometimes the most ethical move is to leave. From the workplace to churches and classrooms, this episode wrestles with a radical idea: wisdom isn’t persuading everyone, but knowing when to stop trying.

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