The Harvard Negotiation & Mediation Clinical Program is thrilled to be able to present a conversation between Clinical Instructor and Lecturer on Law Morgan Michelle Franklin and HNMCP alum Elaine Lin Hering, the author of the forthcoming book Unlearning Silence: How to Speak Your Mind, Unleash Talent, and Live More Fully (Penguin, March 2024).
Morgan Michelle Franklin
Elaine and Morgan discuss the ways in which, and the reasons why, we silence ourselves—and others—and the impact silencing has on our work and personal lives and our culture more broadly.
Elaine Lin Hering
Elaine Lin Hering is a speaker, facilitator, and writer. She works with organizations and individuals to build skills in communication, collaboration, and conflict management. She coaches women and minorities navigating executive leadership in majority white spaces. She is a former Managing Partner at a global leadership development firm.
Elaine has worked with coal miners at BHP Billiton, micro-finance organizers in East Africa, mental health professionals in China, and senior leadership at the US Department of Commerce. Having worked on six continents and across industries, she is known for her cross-cultural fluency and ability to educate across power and difference.
She has taught executive education programs at Harvard, Dartmouth, Tufts, UC Berkeley, and UCLA and served as the Advanced Training Director for the Harvard Mediation Program and as a Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School. Her clients include American Express, Capital One, Google, IBM, Merck, Nike, Salesforce, Shell, Pixar, the Red Cross, and Workday. She has spoken at conferences ranging from the World Business Dialogue in Germany to the Auschwitz Institute on Peace and Reconciliation to the Global Leadership Summit.
Elaine previously taught negotiation and mediation at Monash Law School in Australia and was a Senior Consultant for Conflict Management Australasia, helping them expand their practice in the region. Her research interests include unlearning silence, speaking up, and how race, gender, and non-visible identities influence negotiation. Elaine has B.A.s in Political Science and Music from the University of California Berkeley and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.
