Former Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos addressed a Stanford audience at a May 1 event | Rod Searcey
In an inspiring lecture, former Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos reflected on a historic peace deal in his country and highlighted how a relentless commitment to dialogue made that possible.
“The key is planning and knowing who you are negotiating with,” Santos told a Stanford audience May 1 at an event co-sponsored by the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law, the Business, Government & Society Initiative at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and the Center for Latin American Studies.
He added, “It is about establishing what Nelson Mandela used to call constructive dialogue. Constructive dialogue means you sit down and learn from the person you are trying to reach some kind of agreement with. Learn from them, why they think the way they think, and behave the way they do. And in Colombia, that is what we did.”
