The Art of Civic Dialogue: Bringing Empathy to Hard Conversations with Pádraig Ó Tuama

Small Giants Academy is excited to host ‘Conversations with Extraordinary People’, a webinar series with the world's leading thinkers. 

Engage with two luminaries of the head and heart — poet, theologian, teacher, and conflict mediator Pádraig Ó Tuama, and Co-Founder & Creative Director of Small Giants, Berry Liberman - as we delve into the skills involved in creating soft spaces for hard conversations.   

Explore the complexities of truth-telling, empathy and mediation. In a world where the human spirit is tested, tender, and at times broken, how do we cultivate spaces of grace and understanding? Can we balance the need to speak our truth, and hold the ‘other’? How can we harness the power of storytelling and language to heal fractures within ourselves, our relationships, and the world? 

Accessibility is important to us, this wisdom webinar is free.

Meet Pádraig Ó Tuama:

Pádraig Ó Tuama is a poet and theologian, whose work centres around themes of language, power, conflict and religion. A skilled speaker, teacher and group worker, his work has won acclaim in circles of poetry, politics, religion, psychotherapy and conflict analysis.   

From 2014 to 2019 he was the leader of the Corrymeela Community, Ireland’s oldest peace and reconciliation community.  

Pádraig presents Poetry Unbound with On Being Studios, a podcast that takes a deep dive into a single poem. With six million downloads of its first three seasons, Poetry Unbound is a powerful example of the appetite for poetry in dispersed and diverse populations.   

Pádraig’s books include Sorry for your Troubles, In the Shelter and Feed the Beast.  Poetry Unbound: 50 Poems to Open your World. Pàdraig will release two new books in early 2025, Kitchen Hymns — A new volume of poetry and 44 Poems on Being with Each Other; a Poetry Unbound Collection.

Meet Berry Liberman:

Berry Liberman is a podcaster and writer who focuses on themes of leadership, storytelling, consciousness, money, and human cultural evolution and connection.

Berry is the Creative Director of Small Giants Academy, a not-for-profit accelerator, education, and media initiative with a focus on leadership for a hopeful future. Berry was the Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Dumbo Feather Magazine – now The Wisdom & Action Podcast – with an abundant audience of conscious leaders from all sectors.

Berry, whose family office Small Giants has a 100% Impact portfolio, is a pioneer in the impact investing landscape globally, across media, the built environment, venture capital, regenerative agriculture, financial services, nature-based climate solutions, biodiversity, and energy systems.

As a mother to three beautiful children, her work is in service to them and generations to come.


Thank you for supporting Small Giants Academy, a not-for-profit organisation and an ACNC registered charity.

Our vision at Small Giants Academy is for a just and inclusive transition to a global economy that supports human flourishing while living in harmony with the natural world. Through articles, podcasts, conversations and masterclasses that illuminate the work of global thought leaders, Small Giants Academy is leading its communities towards a hopeful future, the Next Economy.