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About Cliff Kayser

Cliff is an experienced organization development (OD) consultant, executive coach, and leadership trainer overseeing Polarity Partnerships' east coast operations out of Washington, DC. In 2017, Cliff became a founding partner of the 501(c)3 organization the Polarities of Democracy Institute and in 2018 the healthcare coaching/consulting firm, SixSEED Partners. Cliff is a faculty member at American University's Master's in OD and KEY Executive programs and is a Coaching Fellow for George Mason's Accredited Coach Training Program under the Center for the Advancement of Well-being. His past work experience includes VP of Organizational Development and Training for The National Cooperative Bank, Senior OD Consultant for The Washington Post, and Corporate Manager of Human Resources (HR) and Training for The Washington Post Company. Cliff earned Master's Degrees in OD (2007) and HR Management (1998) from The American University and his Coaching Certification from Georgetown's Executive Leadership Coaching Program in (2008). He is a PCC (Professional Certified Coach) and a graduate of the 2-year Polarity Mastery program (2010), and has served as the program dean since 2014.

Just Tao It, Chapter 10: Power & Love

By |2026-03-04T12:44:11-05:00February 19th, 2026|Both/And Polarity Leveraging, Just Tao It, Law of Least Resistance, Polarity Thinking|

See the Series Introduction for Just Tao It, Part I: HERE See the Just Tao It Series Introduction Tao/It on-ramp, PART II: HERE See Just Tao It, Chapter 1: HERE From my interpretation of the Tao Te Ching, Chapter 10 (Unpublished): Do you travel in body, spirit, and soul, without losing their unity? Are you as tender in [...]

Just Tao It, Chapter 9: Effort & Ease

By |2026-03-04T12:44:47-05:00February 18th, 2026|Both/And Polarity Leveraging, Just Tao It, Law of Least Resistance, Polarity Thinking|

See the Series Introduction for Just Tao It, Part I: HERE See the Just Tao It Series Introduction Tao/It on-ramp, PART II: HERE See Just Tao It, Chapter 1: HERE From my interpretation of the Tao Te Ching, Chapter 9 (Unpublished): Brim-fill the teacup, it spills. Sharpen incessantly, the edge dulls. Overfill the house with possessions, guarding becomes [...]

Crosswalk: Polarity Thinking and Law of Least Effort

By |2026-02-18T22:45:01-05:00February 18th, 2026|Both/And Polarity Leveraging, Law of Least Resistance, Polarity Thinking|

Tonight, in my Radical Hope community of practice, we explored the Law of Least Effort — showing up across Taoism (Wu Wei), physics (Least Action), and psychology (Zipf’s Principle). I kept noticing how clearly this connects to patterns I see every day in leaders and organizations. In fact, it would have been useful just hours earlier [...]

Harm in Mindfulness? Yup.

By |2026-02-22T10:39:16-05:00February 14th, 2026|Both/And Polarity Leveraging, Polarity Thinking|

I’m not the brightest tool in the deck, but I know one thing…when something that’s supposed to help us starts to cause a new problem, it’s probably because we didn’t see there was a Both/And need -- for both a Value AND its interdependent Value partner. I’m part of a small online community of practice [...]

Walking Your Talk

By |2026-02-15T14:57:20-05:00February 9th, 2026|Both/And Polarity Leveraging, Polarity Thinking|

I’ve been struck by the image of Buddhist monks walking—slowly, deliberately, and quietly—across the distances in a world that’s all about the hurry-up, the take sides, and the win. They’re not trying to convince anyone of anything. They’re not carrying signs. They’re not shouting slogans. They’re just walking, step after step, holding their own center [...]

Seen This Movie Before?

By |2026-02-15T09:16:07-05:00February 9th, 2026|Both/And Polarity Leveraging, Polarity Thinking|

I’m not the sharpest tool in the deck, but I know this much: when people at work start talking about pendulums swinging and driving from one ditch to the other, something important is trying to get our attention. You hear it all the time. “We’ve overcorrected.” “Now we’ve gone too far the other way.” “This [...]

Getting Fluid Steadiness

By |2026-02-22T10:38:34-05:00February 4th, 2026|Both/And Polarity Leveraging, Polarity Thinking|

What’s being asked of leaders right now isn’t simply better behavior or stronger values — it’s steadier judgment inside tensions that don’t resolve. Leaders are expected to move quickly and think systemically, to show conviction and remain open, to deliver results and preserve trust, to leverage AI and protect human responsibility. None of these are [...]

Not a Horse Story

By |2026-02-09T13:36:03-05:00February 1st, 2026|Artificial Intelligence, Both/And Polarity Leveraging, Polarity Thinking, Self and Other|

There’s an old Chinese story about a farmer whose livelihood depends on a single horse. One day the horse runs away. The neighbors stop by and say, “That’s bad.” The farmer replies, “Maybe.” A few days later the horse returns—bringing several wild horses with it. The neighbors return and say, “That’s good.” The farmer replies, [...]

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