The Rapoport's Rule Debate

Why this exercise

As long as people aren't sure they've been understood, they don't hear other arguments — they repeat their own. The rule philosopher Daniel Dennett named after mathematician Anatol Rapoport breaks the loop: before you disagree, restate your opponent's position so that they say "yes, exactly". A restatement takes 20 seconds and saves half an hour of arguing.

How to run it

1. Draw lots for a topic (for example, "Remote work is more productive than office work") and a side for each team.
2. 7 minutes: teams prepare arguments and choose three speakers: presenter, opponent and emotional advocate.
3. "For" presenter — 3 minutes. The "Against" opponent first restates their arguments, gets "yes, exactly" and only then objects.
4. Then the "Against" presenter and the "For" opponent, then the emotional advocates — by the same rules.
5. No confirmation of the restatement — it is repeated. Round two: a new topic, teams swap sides.

Debrief questions

• What was harder: arguing or restating?
• What changed in the argument when you had to restate?
• How could you apply the rule in your meetings?