We're in the business of choosing sides. Profit OR Planet. Progress OR Tradition. Human Wisdom OR Artificial Intelligence. My team/family OR Your team/family. And we're exhausted. Not because we're choosing wrong, but because we're treating tensions that require both as problems that can be solved by one or the other. Just [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Check out the full article here It’s always with a mix of excitement and a bit of apprehension that my attention sharpens when a credible source like Harvard Business Review or MIT Sloan publishes an article on polarities. The excitement: Finally, broader attention and value recognition. The apprehension: Was it represented well? In this HBR [...]
(This is a follow-on to PART I Cliff’sNOTE inspired by the book, The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt. That one focused on the two “core” polarity tensions he implicitly discusses: Moral Intuition AND Moral Reasoning … Belonging AND Truth-Seeking.) There’s a part of most of us that still believes this quiet fantasy: if I just [...]
(And not losing humanity in the process.) Some backstory for the link and QR code above. This isn’t an “AI Cliff-coach,” even though the platform I used would happily frame it that way. I’m a PCC-certified ICF coach, and I’m increasingly careful about how we use the word “coach” in this space. This polarity-informed AI [...]
I can’t stop thinking about the steady decline in the quality of our dialogue. Not just online. Not just in politics. I see it in families. In teams. In organizations. In communities. Across states. At the national level. And yes—even in the so-called “United” Nations. The tone is harder. The listening thinner. The certainty louder. [...]
(This Cliff’sNOTE was inspired by the book, The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt) Let me start with a confession. I fall into these traps all the time. Despite knowing the theory. Despite teaching this work. Despite having Polarity Thinking™ tattooed on my professional soul. I still catch myself sliding into moral certainty, reacting before reflecting, [...]