In yesterday’s essay, we looked at what culture is and why we need to change it. I also shared three strategies for cultural change.
Today’s essay looks at three more awesome methods for lasting change and how we can handle the ever-growing complexity. I’m also going to give you a glimpse into the future of the Omni-Win Project.
The three strategies for change that we’ve already looked at are:
Game B
Integral theory
Systems thinking
Let’s dive into more.
Three more powerful strategies for change
Polarity thinking
What would it look like to appreciate all perspectives and values instead of choosing one over the other? Polarity thinking is another great approach.
While we have right-or-wrong, this-or-that choices we need to make in this life, certain polarities create ongoing dynamic tension. Those polarities are called “interdependent polarities.”
With an interdependent polarity, both sides of the polarity define each other. They give each other meaning, and they each have something great to offer. Both have a shadow side. We tend to get stuck in polarization as people only focus on the positive qualities of their side, and this is especially true in politics.
Someone conservative might recognize the importance of traditional values, history, culture, and how we got here. When they look at more liberal or progressive values on the other side of the spectrum, they're only looking at the negative qualities. So they might be thinking, “Wow, I'm concerned that this is really risky behavior. We're trying novel things, and we're not respecting the path that got us here. We're not paying attention to our traditions, which could be dangerous.”
Meanwhile, progressives might be thinking, “We need to change and make sure that we're more inclusive. We need to do all these other future-thinking things,” while only looking at the negative qualities of the other side.
The fact is, both sides have their positive and negative qualities. Polarity thinking encourages you to pay attention to your shadow side and the positives of the other side if you’re advocating for one direction. These polarities need to be in dynamic tension because we will keep changing and growing while holding onto the values that got us here.
That tension is always going to be here. We're always going to be stuck between the old and the new. We can address many political issues with a polarity thinking lens, which helps us recognize the values of everything across the political spectrum.
Right now, some fantastic organizations are taking polarity thinking and applying it to our businesses and democracy, including the Institute for Polarities of Democracy. Steve McIntosh has been using polarity thinking to talk about developmental politics and how we can create more cultural intelligence.
Nonviolence
I've written recently about nonviolence. When you apply interdependence, bring it into your behavior, and use it as a vessel for change, nonviolence happens naturally. It’s not just about loving your enemy or the person who sees you as their enemy. Science has shown that it's the most effective way of creating change. It’s super powerful.
Social permaculture
Farmers use permaculture for agriculture, and it's a way of creating an ecosystem that makes sure that everything is playing its role. All the different parts achieve a sustainable way of living. We can apply some of these principles to society, which is called social permaculture.
Some facets include:
Integrate, don’t segregate
Use edges and value the marginal
Observe and interact
Use and value diversity
There are some really interesting outcomes when we embrace social permaculture.
How can we tackle complexity?
So, what do we do about this crazy complexity that we're in? We’re seeing increasing complexity exacerbated by continual growth and globalization. We are under high pressure in very intense times.
The truth is, it's going to keep on getting more intense as we grow and connect with people with diverse perspectives. But we can make things easier: We just need better tools for making sense of the world.
Sensemaking
Rebel Wisdom is a fantastic organization for sensemaking information. They have a sensemaking course and tons of videos about it. One of the things they’ve highlighted is the idea of heterodox framing or conversations.
Orthodox is, “This is my way, the right way.”
Heterodox is, “Let's pay attention to what all the perspectives are saying.”
Heterodox recognizes that all perspectives have a valuable contribution to the conversation. Honestly, we can't really understand what's happening unless we have listened to all the different viewpoints. That's a lot to take in.
Information overload
There's a lot of great work to help us understand the news and other information. Many of these projects are in the digital space. The Consilience Project is showing us how to navigate all this information.
Some websites allow us to access multiple perspectives on different news stories. One of those is All Sides Media, and the other is Flip Side. There, you can read articles from all across the political spectrum, from conservative to progressive and everything in between. Understanding what's going on from all perspectives is a wonderful practice.
There's a lot of information out there, and we're stepping into increasing complexity, so none of this is easy. Still, as we want to keep going, we need to make a change before we self-destruct. Part of that change is welcoming new perspectives and not demonizing the other side. Diversity enriches our lives.
What’s to come for the Omni-Win Project?
Throughout the Omni-Win Project, I will be bringing you experts, tools, and more to make better sense of the world.
As I said, there are four strategic themes for the project. This work on shifting our culture is really important, but it doesn't answer all the questions. That’s why we need all four strategic approaches.
One of the challenges of shifting our culture to an interconnected culture is that the folks advocating for omni-win culture don't necessarily have the processes for bridging the divide. That's why collaborative communication is one of the themes.
This cultural perspective can give us really interesting frameworks and tools that can get us collaborating better and recognize why we need to be working together.
Culture can be really valuable in guiding how we build some of those new systems. It can teach us what's important as we move forward.
These frameworks and philosophical approaches will have to be institutionalized somewhere, which is where the citizen-centered democratic systems come in. We have powerful digital tools to get large amounts of people sharing information and trading collective intelligence.
All of this demonstrates the absolute importance of getting away from rivalrous solutions. There are more advanced ways to make decisions and participate in democracy that aren't just up and down voting. Still, all this change may be hard to accept. We need to look at the part of us that doesn't want to listen to the other perspective, doesn't want to agree, or admit that we don't have all the answers.
This is why the final strategic theme is the Omni-Win individual. The next essay will address the personal changes we need to make to create an Omni-Win future. If you haven’t already subscribed and this topic interests you, please subscribe here or on YouTube.
I have a podcast coming out this summer where I’m talking to experts from all these different fields. Some of the folks I mentioned here are already recording interviews with me, so stay tuned for that.
If you can think of other cultural frameworks, different ways of thinking about our interrelatedness, or great tricks for making sense of the world, drop a comment below. I’d love to hear from you.
Relevant resources if you’d like to learn more:
Fractal Friends: “Integrating Wisdom & Finding Meaning” with Jeremy Lent
Fractal Friends: “Evolving Democracy with Cultural Intelligence” with Steve McIntosh
Fractal Friends: “The Emergence of Wise Democracy” with Tom Atlee
The Developmentalist: Working to Advance the Evolution of American Politics
Polarity Thinking:
"Polarity Management w/ Barry Johnson" on the Stoa:
Systems Thinking
Systems View of Life (Course and Book by Fritjof Capra)
Sensemaking:
What the F*ck is Going On? The Sensemaking Series, Rebel Wisdom
“The War on Sensemaking” (Daniel Schmachtenberger and Rebel Wisdom):
If you prefer to watch your content, here’s a video on the topic of this essay:
You can find more information about the work I do in conflict transformation on my website: http://www.omni-win.com
You can schedule a call with me here: https://calendly.com/duncanautrey
Don’t forget to check out the rest of my posts as I discuss how we can work together to ensure we all win.
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