In Episode 2 of the Crucial Conversations series, Dave gives us the opportunity to learn two things: 1) What is your fight type? 2) What does it take to save the moment from conflict that goes bad? Dave argues that, if you figure out these two things now, you will give yourself a three year head-start toward a healthy marriage someday and advancement at work.

This is the beginning of the Crucial Conversations series, reviewing insights from a book by the same name, Crucial Conversations. In high-stakes interactions with your boss or friend or significant other, what you say matters. There are critical moments in every one of our relationships where our words make the difference. But many times we say too much, we come across too forceful, or we say nothing at all.

And we often believe the lie that telling the truth means losing a friend. In the first episode of this series, Dave addresses what researchers call the "Foolish Choice," the sad result of believing that the truth will cost us more than silence. If relationships are based on communication and trust, then keeping silent costs far more. Do you say what you're thinking or move on and hope it just gets better by itself? The challenge in this episode is simple: Talk about it. Don't fall for the lie that keeping quiet means keeping a friend.

While the seasons change at (somewhat) predictable times in the year, our lives are in constant flux. But there are especially challenging transitions in life that can, if we're not aware, cause us to lose our way. Relocating to a new city, changing jobs or careers, getting promoted, the beginning or ending of a relationship, even self-improvement changes can throw us off course. In this episode of The Collective Podcast, Dave hosts a conversation with his friend and co-worker, Kevin Mahan, about how to keep your life on track when change begins to disappoint, discourage, and even cause you to doubt yourself altogether.

When you work or live with someone who tries to control everything, it can be suffocating. In this episode of The Collective Podcast, Dave talks about the problem of control in our work, cautioning against the effects of forcing compliance. But it is even more destructive in our relationships and faith. The life-altering love that Jesus invites us into leaves no room for performance-based requirements. So why do we do that to ourselves?

In Part 3, the final episode of The Expectations Series, Dave will talk about what happens in our hearts when life lets us down. We'll call out five destructive expectations about life that we need to get rid of now, and he'll point to the one expectation that you can put all your chips on, the one that will never let you down.

In Part 2 of The Expectations Series, Dave will talk about the two most important characteristics of relationship: communication and trust. We will understand what happens when either of those two elements are in question, and we'll caution against the disfunctional or toxic relationship that can demand what it does not deserve. Finally, Dave talks about what it takes to bridge the gap when we are the one not living up to someone else's expectations.

In Part 1 of The Expectations Series, we’ll talk about where expectations come from in our lives, work, and relationships. We will decide what we cannot expect of others, what we can hold them to, and we will discover what to do when the gap between our expectations and experience is too big to ignore.

This episode of the Collective podcast is a special Christmas Collective, talking about family traditions of the holiday season, and introducing Advent as a way to reclaim the value of what Christmas is all about.

A special Friendsgiving Gathering at The Collective, with a conversation about adversity, negativity, and how living with gratitude gives back what pessimism takes away.

Ever wanted what somebody else has? When we were kids, fairness was easy to see and understand. But as we get older and more self-conscious, fairness was easily distorted into jealousy, and that's when it started to steal life from you and from me. In this episode, Dave shares four steps you can take to find jealousy's source, root it out of your heart, and keep it out of your life. Note: Message begins at 14:55.