This week we'd like to highlight an excellent article referencing Polarities of Democracy by William Clements, Ph.D. that appeared in the PA Times in April 2019 — a publication of the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA). Dr. Clements is a Professor of Criminal Justice and Psychology at higher education institutions. He possesses a
In 1967, C. West Churchman highlighted some key factors of unsolvable challenges. He referred to them as “Wicked Problems,” which are: 1) Unsolvable by rational analysis, 2) Systems issues, and 3) Require collective engagement for learning the way to solutions. Another important voice in the solvability discernment arena is Ron Heifetz, who made the
If you’re not familiar with the Tao Te Ching (see description at the end of this note), here’s a sample -- Chapter 39 -- from Cliff’sNOTES on the Tao Te Ching (unpublished). It’s a description of what happens when we’re out of sync with the “Way” or “It” as I refer to the Way:
Salient wisdom for our time. Halakha (or Halachah) represents the strength to shape one's life according to a fixed pattern; it is a form-giving force. Aggadah is the expression of human kind’s ceaseless striving, which often defies all limitations. Robert Cover, a twentieth century Yale Law School professor wrote Nomos and Narrative), "No set
Summary of “Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for A Complex World” by retired Army General Stanley McChrystal “If there is a single key point that stands head and shoulders above the rest in my mind, it is this: The never-ending quest for efficiency must give way to a tireless effort to ensure
Polarities (paradoxes and dilemmas) have been the grist of human awareness and study for more than 5,000 years. Despite efforts to reduce problems and solutions to simple either/or configurations, the authors assert that the need for both/and, polarity thinking is necessary to maximize successful transitions. Freeman (2004) states that learning and actively using both/and,
Success today and in the future requires critical distinctions be made in the type of thinking that’s needed for challenges and opportunities. One type of thinking addresses complicated and solvable technical problems using “either/or.” Another type of thinking addresses complexity for technically unsolvable adaptive “polarity” challenges using “both/and.” Polarities are interdependent pairs that all
Advocating for “Both/And” thinking as a replacement for “Either/Or” thinking. Example: “We need to get away from ‘Either/Or’ thinking and use ‘Both/And’. “ Using “verses” as a conjunction for the two poles instead of “and”. Example: “We’ve got a polarity of Structure versus Flexibility.” Describing the two poles of a polarity in a negative-to-positive,
As awareness of polarities increases, so does the awareness of multarities. The question about multiple poles comes up frequently in our PACT (Polarity Approach for Continuity and Transformation) Foundations and Professional Applications Certification training. Often, it’s from people who have deep subject matter expertise in a particular area. When they learn about polarities seeing
This video is a presentation in Walden University's Academic Skills Center's 2018 Using your Skills for Social Change is presented by Suzanne Rackl, and Dr. William Benet, CSBS. This session explored the Polarities of Democracy Theory (POD) of positive social change in a scholar-practitioner’s work, tracing the experience of the presenters’ use of theory