Putting The United Back Into The United States: Rick Musson of Veterans Auto Insurance On The 5 Things That Each Of Us Can Do To Help Unite Our Polarized Society
An Interview With Tyler Gallagher
A mindful effort toward unification will help you discover ways to build bridges and establish relationships. Often, we don’t even attempt to find common ground. When you start to look for it, though, you’ll find it.
As part of our series about 5 Things That Each Of Us Can Do To Help Unite Our Polarized Society, I had the pleasure of interviewing Rick Musson.
Rick Musson is a consultant with VeteransAutoInsurance.com. He has 20 years experience in law enforcement where he has frequently studied and implemented conflict resolution strategies. In his free time, he loves to enjoy the great outdoors with his family.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive into the main focus of our interview, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your childhood backstory?
I grew up in a small town in Montana, and I was always outside. Whether playing sports, riding bikes with friends, or hunting with my dad and uncle, I only came inside when I had to. Summers were spent playing baseball and swimming in our neighborhood pool.
What or who inspired you to pursue your career? We’d love to hear the story.
My dad inspired me to pursue my career. He retired from law enforcement after 35 years, and I always wanted to follow in his footsteps. When I was in college, I had several good professors, one of whom was especially inspirational and made me even more committed to my goal.
What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now? How do you think that might help people?
One of my roles as a team leader is overseeing our crisis negotiations unit. Although we’ve had a negotiator unit for a long time, we are revamping it. We added several negotiators and are working on getting them each to a basic negotiator school, and getting better equipment, including communication equipment, and a command post for them.
Trained and talented negotiators can make the difference between life and death for the people they’re working with, so I’m excited to be a part of their training and equipment process.
None of us can achieve success without some help along the way. Was there a particular person who you feel gave you the most help or encouragement to be who you are today? Can you share a story about that?
My dad gave me the most encouragement to be who I am today, but other people from my childhood had a major impact on my life, as well. My pastor from my growing up years always had a positive mindset and helped me keep my focus on what I should. Some of the things I remember him saying were “be encouraged” and “rise to the challenge.”
Those saying helped me to focus on the positives that I had, even when I was tempted to feel discouraged, and not let challenges and hardships keep me from succeeding. Instead, I knew I needed to rise to meet the challenge instead of letting it crush me.
Can you share the funniest or most interesting mistake that occurred to you in the course of your career? What lesson or take away did you learn from that?
One interesting thing about following my dad’s footsteps in law enforcement when I also share his name is that confusion is sure to ensue. Our classes and trainings go into Montana police training records. One day, when I was looking up my training record, I realized I was getting credit for courses taken long before I had ever been hired.
That’s when I realized that Montana records had combined our trainings, which is ridiculous considering our birthdays are quite different and we work for different agencies.
I didn’t learn much of a lesson from that except for being reminded to always check records because you never know when someone will screw something up.
Is there a particular book that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story or explain why it resonated with you so much?
Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink
The author is a retired Navy Seal team leader. He used the lessons that he learned through his life and combat situations to increase in wisdom, and then he shared those lessons in leadership in the book. It’s practical and applicable to my life, and I try to focus on being a good leader.
Can you share your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Why does that resonate with you so much? Do you have a story about how that was relevant in your life or your work?
“Leadership is solving problems. The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence that you can help or concluded you do not care. Either case is a failure of leadership.” -Colin Powell
Leadership is about influence. As a sergeant and leader in my department, trust is essential. To be effective, I need to earn my team’s trust and demonstrate my support for each individual. Answering questions gives me an opportunity to influence others, and it also shows me that those asking the questions have confidence is my leadership.
How do you define “Leadership”? Can you explain what you mean or give an example?
The ability or action of an individual to influence and lead a group of people toward a common goal.
There are things that a team has to do that they may not like to and that may be difficult, but if they have the trust and confidence in their leader, they can overcome together and accomplish what they set out to do.
Ok, thank you for all that. Now let’s move to the main focus of our interview. The polarization in our country has become so extreme that families have been torn apart. Erstwhile close friends have not spoken to each other because of strong partisan differences. This is likely a huge topic, but briefly, can you share your view on how this evolved to the boiling point that it’s at now?
If you’ve studied the history of the founding of our country, you’ve likely realized that Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton weren’t on the same page when it came to politics. They had heated arguments, slandered each other, and they probably hated each other once or twice. But, they respected each other’s viewpoints.
They argued it out. They listened, they considered the others’ points, and they evaluated changes that they need to make in their thinking. They didn’t shirk away from their differences but shared them openly. Still, they disagreed as gentlemen, with respect.
What we see today, though, is a refusal to have the arguments respectfully and face to face. Instead, differences of opinion become reasons to disrespect each other. Too much fighting happens over keyboards and on one-sided outlets. When people have conversations in which they listen and respond respectfully, a lot of progress can be made.
I believe the current boiling point is the result of a complete lack of respect for any viewpoint but your own.
I have no pretensions about bridging the divide between politicians, or between partisan media outlets. But I’d love to discuss the divide that is occurring between families, co workers, and friends. Do you feel comfortable sharing a story from your experience about how family or friends have become a bit alienated because of the partisan atmosphere?
I have family members who got into a social media argument over presidential candidates and have not spoken in years.
In your opinion, what can be done to bridge the divide that has occurred in families? Can you please share a story or example?
When it comes to family, I think bridging the gap is even more important than it is with friends. Both parties in a disagreement need to be willing to give up a little of their staunchness and agree to disagree. They may need to mutually decide not to discuss their differences and instead focus on their mutual interests.
How about the workplace, what can be done to bridge the partisan divide that has fractured relationships there? Can you please share a story or example?
Individuals should leave their politics at home if it’s going to cause them to be distracted from their work. You don’t have to be best friends with your coworkers, and you don’t need to agree on politics, but you do have to be cordial and have the ability to work together.
If you and a coworker can have philosophical conversations and arguments that push each other to consider other viewpoints and grow in understanding, that’s great. If you’re unable to do that, you need to set your differences aside and work together to accomplish your job.
I think one of the causes of our divide comes from the fact that many of us see a political affiliation as the primary way to self identify. But of course there are many other ways to self identify. What do you think can be done to address this?
What you devote your time to will be what defines you. Perhaps people who are defined by their political standing need to spend time diversifying their interests. Maybe they should spend time in an outdoor activity or an organized sport. Hobbies like woodworking, cooking, or crafting and provide common ground for people of differing philosophies to connect.
Much ink has been spilled about how social media companies and partisan media companies continue to make money off creating a split in our society. Sadly the cat is out of the bag and at least in the near term there is no turning back. Social media and partisan media have a vested interest in maintaining the divide, but as individuals none of us benefit by continuing this conflict. What can we do moving forward to not let social media divide us?
Keep politics out of your social media account. Instead, use it to share your everyday life that everyone can relate to. If you see a political post that gets you riled up, move along. You won’t win anyone over by pursuing a social media back and forth.
You may need to snooze some people for 30 days to give yourself a break. If you start seeing their posts again and they still drive you crazy, you can unfollow them and they won’t even know.
What can we do moving forward to not let partisan media pundits divide us?
You can stop devoting your time to division and start focusing on having fun with your friends. Instead of listening to the news for hours a day, read a historical novel or a self-help book, take a walk, or plant a garden. Start doing productive things rather than devoting yourself to partisan media.
Sadly we have reached a fevered pitch where it seems that the greatest existential catastrophe that can happen to our country is that “the other side” seizes power. We tend to lose sight of the fact that as a society and as a planet we face more immediate dangers. What can we do to lower the ante a bit and not make every small election cycle a battle for the “very existence of our country”?
Look back over your lifetime and you’ll see that when the other party was in charge, you still had happy times, and when your party was in charge, you still had challenges. Good and bad times happen no matter who is in charge, and that will continue.
Ok wonderful. Here is the main question of our interview. Can you please share your “5 Steps That Each Of Us Can Take To Proactively Help Heal Our Country”. Kindly share a story or example for each.
#1 — The first thing you need to do to work toward unification is to stop arguing on a keyboard. When that happens, you lose the personhood of the other party, and they become words on a screen.
#2 — Next, you must listen to the other side. Listening doesn’t mean you’ll agree, but it will help you understand a different perspective. It will give you insight that will help you overcome the idea that those with differing views are idiots because you’ll see them as people who, at their core, aren’t as different from you as you thought.
#3 — Another step towards unification is practicing kindness. Just because you don’t like an idea doesn’t give you the right to act in a cruel manner. Be kind and treat others with respect.
#4 — Seek commonalities in people with opposing viewpoints. You have something in common with even the person you’re sure you don’t. Look for that common ground and build a relationship on that.
#5 — A mindful effort toward unification will help you discover ways to build bridges and establish relationships. Often, we don’t even attempt to find common ground. When you start to look for it, though, you’ll find it.
Simply put, is there anything else we can do to ‘just be nicer to each other’?
Listen. Listen without thinking of the next thing you’re going to say. Instead of responding with a retort, ask a question so you can further your understanding.
We are going through a rough period now. Are you optimistic that this issue can eventually be resolved? Can you explain?
I’m not optimistic that the issue can be resolved universally, but I know what steps I can take to get along with others and build friendships even with people I disagree with.
If you could tell young people one thing about why they should consider making a positive impact on our society, like you, what would you tell them?
I would remind young people that just because someone doesn’t agree with you doesn’t make them a bad person. You can learn from just about anyone, so instead of arguing, try to learn.
Is there a person in the world, or in the US, with whom you would like to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. 🙂
Michael Jordon, because he’s the greatest basketball player ever, of course. I’d love to get details on his drive and secret to success. He’s been my all-time favorite athlete since I was a kid. I’ve always wanted to “be like Mike.”
How can our readers follow you online?
Check out my work on VeteransAutoInsurance.com.
This was very meaningful, and thank you so much for the time you spent on this interview. We wish you only continued success on your great work!
You’re welcome. Thank you so much for the opportunity.
Putting The United Back Into The United States: Rick Musson of Veterans Auto Insurance On The 5… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.