On June 5, 1944, more than 5,000 ships waited to transport more than 150,000 soldiers to France before daybreak the following morning. General Dwight D. Eisenhower hoped these troops would push the German troops back across Europe. Eisenhower knew the fight to take Normandy would be brutal. The beaches these troops would assault were tangled [...]
Created as a nonprofit social change think tank in 2017, the Institute for the Polarities of Democracy joins the tools and processes of decades of polarity approach development with the basic principles of democracy drawn from centuries of literature about freedom and governance under one unifying Polarities of Democracy theory, which the Institute uses to [...]
Walter Cannon suggested emotions originate in the brain and work their way into the body. William James theorized emotions originate in the body, get perceived in the brain, and we form stories to explain them. Welcome to the Cannon-James debate, ya’ll! Summaries of the two points of view appear at the end of this note, [...]
(Cliff Kayser is providing this summary w/additions from an August article in FORBES by Roger Trap.) So complex is the modern business environment that leaders are confronting paradoxes on a regular basis. They want to protect their core business at the same time as innovating for the future; they are looking at new territories while [...]
(Cliff Kayser of Polarity Partnerships, LLC provides this summary w/additions from an August 2022 article that appeared in NEWSWEEK by colleagues Marianne Lewis and Wendy Smith.) Today's world is becoming increasingly fractured. Confirmation bias abounds where people stay within safe circles of friends and colleagues who agree with them, and the opinions they hear mirror [...]
(Cliff Kayser of Polarity Partnerships, LLC provides this summary w/additions from an August 2022 article in FastCompany by colleagues Marianne Lewis and Wendy Smith.) How can adopting ‘both/and thinking’ to move beyond a simple yet often destructive formula and develop more creative and productive solutions. While we want the best of home and work, too [...]
The rock stars of paradox research, Wendy Smith and Marianne Lewis, just released their book, “Both/And Leadership: Embracing Creative Tensions to Solve Your Toughest Problems” in which they say early-on: From page 11: We draw from Eastern philosophy, such as that set forth by Lao Tzu in the Tao Te Ching and from Western philosophy, [...]
A friend asked me for Polarity Maps that might be helpful in this difficult time. I’m sharing several that are part of a chapter for the Volume 2 of “And” Making a Difference by Leveraging Polarity, Paradox or Dilemma (which hasn’t been published and the attached hasn’t been edited for publication, FYI). Technically, I shouldn’t [...]
A special invitation just went out to key political and policy influencers from government, non-profit, academia, and think-tanks for a May 13th workshop entitled: From Polarized to Optimized. We only had space for 30 people -- so if you didn't get an invitation and are experiencing FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out), Fear not! We’re exploring ways to [...]