How Charlie Kirk Disagreed Is More Important Than What He Believed

I had intended for this Money Monday to be something powerful, a new message that would get you fired up for this week and this season. But last week, while delivering training to an amazing group of young salespeople with wide-open minds, I learned that Charlie Kirk had been assassinated. It disturbed me deeply and I feel compelled to deliver this message. The Assassination That Shook America On Sept. 10, 2025, Charlie Kirk was fatally shot while addressing an audience at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah. A young man, thirty-one years old with his whole life ahead of him, was killed for no other reason than someone disagreed with him. After learning about the assassination, I found myself incredibly disturbed that a person in the public square could just be shot and killed like that—murdered right in front of everyone. So I did what I always do when I want to understand something: I started learning. I watched hours and hours, dozens and dozens of Charlie Kirk's videos to learn more about the man, his message, and why someone would think it would be okay to assassinate him. I still haven't found the answer to that last question. This Isn't About Politics Before I go any further, let me be crystal clear: This is not a political message. This is not a religious message. It is about how we treat each other as human beings. If you know me, if you've been to my events or training, you know I never talk about politics or religion. If you look at my social media feeds on any channel, you won't find much that would help you understand what my politics or religion are. Do I have convictions? Yes. Do I believe certain things? Yes. But they're my beliefs, and I keep them to myself because my job is to train salespeople. I'm a sales author, trainer, expert, and consultant. That's my lane. I train salespeople no matter what they believe. I train salespeople no matter what their religion. I train salespeople and help salespeople no matter where they're from or what their walk of life is. I don't care where you come from because my entire purpose, my reason for being on earth, is to help you sell more, help you gain confidence, and to help you with your biggest sales questions and challenges. What Charlie Kirk's Example Taught Me What I discovered in watching those videos was something that transcends political beliefs. Charlie Kirk's example was his willingness to go sit down face-to-face with people who disagreed with him, sometimes vehemently, and just have a conversation. And do it respectfully. I noticed something remarkable in his videos: More than once, he said, "You know what, I stand corrected." Someone would come to him with a different set of facts, and he would say, "Okay, that sounds right. I agree with you." In many cases, he would shake the person's hand after a debate. He was respectful. It was never about the person. It wasn't personal. He didn't hate the person. He had conversations about their ideas. How Charlie Kirk disagreed mattered. That is what we need to get back to. Not someplace in the future—today, right now. The Human Cost I watched his wife's, Erica's, message to the world, and I found myself on an airplane as a grown man with tears streaming down my face, trying not to let everyone see that I was crying. It was heartbreaking watching her pain. She has two kids; they are one- and three-years-old. That assassin changed their lives forever. I can't imagine when one of them gets older and either finds the video of their daddy getting assassinated or someone puts it in front of them. If you step into that frame for just a moment with your human empathy, it will make you hurt. Charlie's children will be raised with stories instead of memories, photographs instead of laughter, and silence where their father's voice should have guided and loved them. The Conflict We All Face Everywhere in our lives with other people, we have disagreement. Everywhere in our lives, we have conflict. It's not just politics or religion. It's not just philosophy. We have this conflict in our families. We have this conflict at work. If you're in sales, you know this because you're always in conflict with other people at work. You know the internal sell is harder than the external sell. You know there are people inside your organization who just don't believe the same things you believe. The choice you make is this: You either push them aside, shun them, treat them like objects, choose to hate them—or you can make the choice to go sit down and have a conversation with them. The Power of Face-to-Face Conversation Here's the thing about talking with people: While you're talking with people, it's hard to hate them while you're standing in front of them. You can't see them as less than human. You have to see them as another person. It's just necessary to have that conversation. Sometimes you can agree to disagree, but the act of sitting down and talking changes everything. Utah Governor Spencer Cox said something profound after Charlie's assassination: "Words are not violence. Violence is violence." He also said that social media is a cancer, and I partly agree with him. Social media has been huge for me as a businessperson. I use it all the time. I love LinkedIn; I even have a brand new book coming out on LinkedIn. But social media becomes a cancer when, instead of stepping into our empathy and feeling what other people feel and looking at the world through their lens, we're able to write the most horrific things about them. We're able to create memes about a young man who was killed, who was assassinated in the public square. When you're celebrating someone else's assassination on social media, it's because you no longer see them as a human being. That's when it becomes a cancer. We Have a Choice Governor Cox wasn't sure whether Charlie Kirk's assassination would be a pivot point that changes us. He said only history will reveal that. But he did say that each of us has a choice. We can make the choice to change how we disagree with each other, to change how we debate. You have a choice. You can choose to disagree better. The choice is that you can see people—whether you're looking at them through the lens of social media, a TV screen, or a phone screen—and choose to step into their shoes and see them as a person. You can use your God-given empathy to take a moment and try to see their point of view. You don't have to agree with it, but you can still view things through their lens. And if you can see someone else's point of view, there might be an opportunity to find common ground or compromise. America Was Built on Disagreement The thing I love about America is that we were founded on debate. America was founded on disagreement. Our entire system is built for us to have multiple sides coming together. It works because we have all these different voices, and it's messy because we don't agree with each other. But the beautiful thing about that mess, the beautiful thing about all those people disagreeing, is that one side almost never gets all the power. Our founding fathers understood that absolute power corrupts absolutely. Because we have all those dissenting voices, because we have to compromise we make progress. In recent years though, an evil mindset has slowly creeped into society. "You don't agree with me, therefore you're bad, and bad people like you deserve to die." But when all those voices begin to debate and sit down and see each other as human beings, somewhere along the line we make small agreements that move us forward. As a country, we have consistently moved forward and gotten better over time because we disagree with each other. The Call to Action Governor Cox said something I love. Put social media down. Put the phone down. Go out and touch some grass. Go hug someone. Tell them that you love them. Go sit down and talk with someone you don't agree with. You might walk away and still disagree, but you can still have a meal together. Back in college, when we were having debates—and when I was in college, you actually got to have debates with two sides—we would debate with each other in classrooms. We would debate our ideas all the way to the point where we basically had to shake hands and say we're walking away. And then we would go hang out with each other. We can do this. As human beings, we have the agency to make this choice. As long as we're talking with people, as long as we're connected with people, it's easier to love and harder to hate. What This Means for How We Work and Live This applies to every area of our lives, including our professional relationships. In sales, you're constantly dealing with people who see things differently than you do. Prospects who have different priorities. Colleagues who have different approaches. Managers who have different expectations. The principles that made Charlie Kirk effective in his debates are the same principles that make great salespeople: Listen first. Really listen to understand, not just to respond. Show respect for the person, even when you disagree with their position. Control your emotions. Focus on the making your case rather than making the other person wrong. Focus on ideas, not personalities. Attack the problem, not the person. Be willing to be wrong. Sometimes the other person has better information or a better perspective. Find common ground. Look for areas where you can agree before addressing areas where you differ. The Legacy We Choose Charlie Kirk was willing to engage respectfully with people who vehemently disagreed with him. He showed us that you can hold strong convictions while still treating others with dignity and respect. His assassination was an attempt to silence that kind of civil discourse.