The Ultimate Purpose of Conflict

The ultimate purpose of managing interpersonal conflict is to grow us emotionally in self-awareness, storytelling, emotional management, and moral and ethical character. There aren’t any apps, searches, or other fancy technological shortcuts for the development of those traits in us.

The Opposite of Civilization is Human Nature

The opposite of civilization is human nature. And occasionally, regrettably, human nature finds a way to break through the behavioral, cultural, social, and even religious boundaries constructed assiduously around it. We define this “breaking through,” as conflict, violence, and—at the nation-state level—war. The purpose of civilization is to hold back Read more…

Just Make It Work

Two things are happening simultaneously in our organizational cultures, our markets, and our personal lives. We have established non-curiosity (“I don’t care how it works, I just want it to work”) as the new standard for engaging with the work, the ideas that interest us (or not) and the world Read more…

Ingredients are Baked In

Most, if not all, of the problems and conflicts in organizations, stem from cultural issues, baked in before you started working there. “This is how we do things here.” (Status quo) “Isn’t everything going great here?” (False expectations/Poor feedback loop) “Don’t say anything and it’ll just get ‘better’ on its Read more…