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 [...]
Beginning in 1943, the War Department published a series of pamphlets for U.S. Army personnel in the European theater of World War II Army Talks. The series was designed “to help [the personnel] become better-informed men and women and therefore better soldiers” -- the topic for the week March 24, 1945 was “FASCISM!” The War [...]
NOTE: From Carl Rogers: On Becoming a Person (1961), Chapter 14. The “Rogerian triad” was created for the therapeutic relationship. However, it can be useful for Coaches, the Self And Other relationship, and one’s relationship w/“Self.” A “Multarity” is an interdependency of more than two. (See Figure, below): Figure There are three points in the “relationship triangle” [...]
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 of Polarity Partnerships, LLC is provides 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 [...]
(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, [...]
Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know by Adam Grant (2021) is a new addition to the growing body of mainstream books about mental blindspots, cognitive biases, and thinking errors. Every individual possesses cognitive tools and accumulated knowledge that they regularly rely upon. But we rarely question or consider this knowledge which includes [...]
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 [...]