about
Who we are
Our mission is to celebrate and normalize healthy, productive disagreement in all aspects of life.
Productive disagreement is a fundamental source of learning, growth, and collaborative problem solving. It is the engine of progress and at the heart of all healthy relationships. Yet, as a culture, we are increasingly avoiding conflict or engaging in toxic ways.
We are building a media and learning company dedicated to solving this problem:
Media
When it comes to disagreement, we currently lack good role models. We are committed to creating catalytic examples of productive disagreement in our culture. Our first foray, The Disagreement w/ Alex Grodd, brings together experts who disagree on contentious topics to engage in long-form, constructive conversations.
Learning
We are committed to helping people disagree more productively in their personal and professional lives. We have partnered with former Harvard Law professor and elite mediator, Bob Bordone, to offer world-class disagreement coaching services. We will be expanding our suite of offerings over the coming year.
team
Our people
Alex Grodd
Founder, CEO
Prior to starting The Disagreement, Alex founded and ran BetterLesson, an edtech company that provides professional development tools to teachers. Alex forged his love for disagreement by facilitating debates among students during his days as a middle school teacher at public schools in Atlanta and Boston.
Claire Tighe
Producer
Claire is an award-winning producer and journalist whose work includes podcasts for NBC News & MSNBC, The Chicago Tribune, Audible, and many others. Her writing has appeared at The Village Voice, Bitch Magazine, and the Centro de Periodismo Investigativo Puerto Rico.
Catherine Cushenberry
Services
Catherine has served as a strategy and operations executive at digital health startups and as a management consultant for pharma and biotech companies. Her work has taken her around the world, helping clients and teams turn innovative healthcare strategies into operational realities. Her focus is service design, go-to-market strategy and operational excellence.
Bob Bordone
Advisor
Bob is the founder of the Harvard Law School Negotiation and Clinical Program and Senior Fellow at Harvard Law School. Previously, Bob was Thaddeus R. Beal Clinical Professor of Law at Harvard Law School from 1998-2019. Bob is an internationally-recognized expert in negotiation, mediation and difficult conversations. He also serves as a Board Member for Seeds of Peace.
Jamie Novogrod
Advisor
Leadership roles at the Los Angeles Times, VICE News and NBC News. Earlier, as an NBC producer and reporter. Covered the 2012 U.S. presidential election as a network “embed.”
Contact us
If you have a topic idea or guest suggestion, or if you yourself are interested in appearing as a guest, please email us at info@thedisagreement.com