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Adam Kahane expands on the difference between conventional collaboration and “stretch collaboration”.
Full Description
In this thought-provoking, live-recorded conversation (captioned and with transcription) that centers around the core topics of the book Collaborating with the Enemy, Adam Kahane, Dave Snowden, and Steffi Bednarek explore why collaboration is harder to achieve in a polarized, complex world, and yet increasingly necessary amid converging, interconnected crises.
Kahane argues we sometimes do have real enemies, and warns against Carl Schmitt’s friend-enemy politics; he also stresses collaboration is only one option alongside forcing, adapting, or exiting, while contrasting conventional collaboration (low conflict/complexity, people subordinate to the team) with “stretch collaboration” for high conflict and/or complexity situations, where stakeholders won’t set aside interests, illustrated by personal stories from, for example, Colombia’s armed conflict.
We explore how simple practices, such as taking a walk, can humanize opponents without requiring agreement or trust.
Dave Snowden expands the conversation with complexity perspectives: changing the “substrate” through hyperlocal interactions, the problem with duality thinking, the role of energy-gradient mapping, and what it means to probe empathy’s limits in today’s leadership and social conditions.
This conversation is helpful for anyone interested in or working in multi-stakeholder environments and developing collaboration to respond to social and ecological crises.
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Please note: This transcript was automatically generated and subsequently reviewed by a human editor. Nonetheless, typographical or minor errors may remain.
Both the transcript and the recording are the property of the Centre for Climate Psychology and may not be reproduced, distributed, or displayed without the organization’s explicit written consent.