Collaborating Across Differences

Collaborating across differences and finding opportunities in the cracks can help all of us make our way through the current polycrisis. What’s needed now is not so much shared values or objectives, as pragmatic action. For those who struggle to navigate differences, there’s encouraging news: The bar for collaboration is much lower than is commonly assumed.

We had the opportunity to sit down with Adam Kahane, a world-renowned consultant, facilitator, and bestselling author of books such as Collaborating with the Enemy. In our conversation, he shares how he has helped leaders from around the world find solutions to seemingly unsolvable problems. We also explore insights from his latest book, Everyday Habits for Transforming Systems: The Catalytic Power of Radical Engagement—a practical guide for people aiming to drive fundamental and enduring change.

Egon Zehnder: We currently face multiple challenges: environmental, technological, and now geopolitical as well. The classic formulas that previously led to success don’t work anymore. But what does work?

Adam Kahane: We’re in a time when collaboration is both more important and more difficult than ever. The world is facing big stresses—we are in the midst of a polycrisis, which is producing massive disruptions, migrations, resource crises, and violent conflict. How can we work together in this period of economic, trade, political, social, and cultural change?

Through my work, I have come to understand that the bar for collaboration is lower than most people think. But if we assume that to collaborate we have to agree on the problem, the solution, the plan, and values, then collaboration becomes impossible. In fact we can do a lot together with people we do not agree with or like or trust. Understanding this can be a huge relief.

When former president of Colombia Juan Manuel Santos won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2016, I was surprised that he referred to the work we had done 20 years before as a key stepping stone on the road to peace in his country. I asked him some months later in a public interview: "Why do you even remember that work?" He said: “The reason I so often refer to it is because, contrary to all of my cultural and political upbringing, I discovered it is possible to work with people we do not agree with and will never agree with.”

President Santos gave the example of himself and Hugo Chavez, who was at that time the president of Venezuela. It was obvious when they met, they would never agree. One was a Bolivarian revolutionary socialist, the other a neoliberal democratic capitalist. But there were certain things they had to do together as presidents of neighboring countries. And they did.

Egon Zehnder: Does this approach work in our time where power matters when it comes to conflict, and where there is a renewed focus on authority?  

Adam Kahane: I think we are seeing not only a regression to dependence on authority, but actually a regression to bullying and violence. I’m not sure to what extent this is also true within organizations or companies, but it’s certainly showing up in national and international politics. But can you get good results just by telling other people what to do, whether they like it or not? I call that way of getting things done imposing or forcing: These days, we’re seeing many examples of such approaches and cultures that are less egalitarian, collaborative, and open, and more directive and authoritarian. This way may not be violent or illegal. In some cases it can be effective, at least for a while—but it has major limitations.

An alternative approach and culture is being collaborative. But you can’t collaborate with everybody on everything, and so the questions you must ask are: Who will I collaborate with, when, on what, and why? And so collaborating is a particular rather than a general choice. This type of collaboration requires stretching beyond what is familiar and comfortable for most people. The people who are collaborating are often not on the same team, yet they have to work together to be able to address important challenges.

Egon Zehnder: How do you deal with people who are toxic or narcissistic? Do you still include them?  

Adam Kahane: If you can get to where you want to go without them, go ahead. But what if you do need them? I believe it is possible to collaborate with them. Often in complex, polarized situations, the people we most need to work with are the people we least want to work with. We tend to make these things more difficult than they are by saying: “I could never work with that person.” Often, though, it is the arrogant, know-it-all people you need, because they are the ones in positions of power or authority. 

Egon Zehnder: What about people who behave in a paternalistic fashion?

Adam Kahane: Most of the people I know who take that stance aren’t especially inspiring. I have found, on the contrary, that many people who are less educated or less sophisticated are doing more good in the world. You need humility to be able to collaborate across differences. This requires being willing to value multiple perspectives and truths. The bottom line is: Don’t assume that you know the answer and that everyone must simply do what you say.

In addition, collaboration will not work if solutions are deemed to be unfair. People will withdraw their support and commitment because they’re not going to give energy to something that is oppressing them. If you need to collaborate with other companies, communities, or governments because you can’t get what you want unilaterally or by force, then be careful how you treat others. If they think you’re acting unfairly or from a belief in your own superiority, then you won’t get very far. Collaboration requires working with power, love, and justice. All three are required: recognizing that all of us are parts of larger wholes, wholes in ourselves, and wholes in relationship. You can only succeed if you have all three.

Egon Zehnder: So it helps to have a common goal for collaboration? 

Adam Kahane: There may be a common goal, there may not be. It would be great if there were, but it’s not required. What is needed instead is a shared sense that the situation is not as it should be and that we want to do something about this.

Egon Zehnder: In your world, are values obsolete?

Adam Kahane: I am a pragmatist in the sense that I’m interested in what enables us to advance and deal with the issues we have to deal with. The idea that you will only be able to work with people if they have the same values as you is not pragmatic. I don’t think there are a priori red lines. You have to decide, in any given circumstance, at any given moment, whom you need to work with to get where you want to go. You have to accept different values and look for a pragmatic way to work together to build some domain of joint or at least connected activities.

This brings us to acting responsibly. You need to ask yourself what your role is in things being the way they are. Because if you’re not part of the problem, you can’t be part of the solution, except from the outside by force. So, you need to think: “How am I part of the problem, and what do I have in my capacity to change?” In other words, you need to work out what your responsibility is in the situation. This can be the hardest part of collaboration. If you can get people in the same room, however, they can figure out what to do. But if they remain separated, not taking responsibility and each working only from their own perspective, then one will ignore or dominate the others, or they will get stuck.

I have been surprised recently by the rapid changes in values by many big companies. It appears they have abandoned their values either by believing they have no responsibility to others, or that their primary responsibility is not to upset people in authority. This abdication of responsibility will end badly.

Egon Zehnder: When you are called into a situation where a solution has to be found, how do you get the collaboration started? What is your recipe for success?

Adam Kahane: There is a recipe—but it’s not a simple recipe, and it must be customized in every case. One of the first steps is articulating a complex understanding of the problematic situation. I use this specific phrase “problematic situation” because it is never as simple as a problem that has a solution—these are situations that different actors find problematic for different reasons, and maybe not even overlapping reasons.

The next issue is to identify who needs to be involved to address the problematic situation, without assuming that all these actors will agree. It is possible for people to work together who don’t agree with each other, or even like or trust each other. It may not be easy, it may not be fun, but it’s often possible and necessary. Then you need to establish the ground rules: How can you bring together actors from different countries, communities, cultures, interests, positions, perspectives, or capacities to make the whole of the situation visible to everybody and enable them to work together?

Egon Zehnder: Thanks, Adam. On another note, can you share your philosophy about cracks from your latest book, Everyday Habits for Transforming Systems?

Adam Kahane: The first point about cracks is where we believe that a system’s not working and we have to transform it. We think that the only way to do that—because it’s a solid, rigid thing—is to blow it up and start again. We’ve seen a lot of blowing up these past months, including for example the global trading system. I’m not saying you never can blow anything up, but it’s not the only way and it’s risky—even if a system is not working well, there may be crucial aspects that need to be maintained.  

There’s another way to deal with this. These systems are not solid; in fact, they’re always shifting. Take the Covid-19 pandemic, for example. It cracked our established service model at Reos Partners, which relied heavily on in-person workshops. But that disruption opened the door for us to shift to a hybrid delivery model, and this turned out to be both more cost-effective and accessible.  

Let’s focus on the cracks and look for where the openings are, where things are not working or could work better. Right now, for example, the global trade system is being cracked—are there opportunities there? You can transform systems not by shying away from changes, but by moving toward what’s breaking down and breaking through, and looking for opportunities.

Egon Zehnder: What is needed to collaborate successfully? 

Adam Kahane: Humility. Humility empowers you to accept others as they are and to collaborate across differences. It enables you to act out of your own values and purpose, but not to require others to agree with you. Although these days this approach is not the dominant one, in my work, every day, I experience that opening in this way enables deep-rooted conflicts to be resolved. This gives me hope. 

Adam Kahane is a facilitator and consultant known for his work in helping leaders from government, business, and civil society to collaborate to address complex challenges. He is a cofounder of Reos Partners, a social enterprise with a global team of adaptive innovators, creative problem solvers, and facilitators of societal transformation, striving to make the world more peaceful, just, and sustainable through enhanced multi-stakeholder collaboration.

Adam has been a pivotal figure in several transformative global initiatives—notably, facilitating dialogue and collaboration during South Africa’s transition away from apartheid, and supporting Colombia’s peace process. He has worked in over 50 countries with politicians and executives, generals and guerrillas, civil servants and trade unionists, community activists, clergy, and artists. 

Kahane is a best-selling author of six books about practical strategies for addressing complex, systemic challenges through collaboration, dialogue, and transformative leadership. His latest book, Everyday Habits for Transforming Systems: The Catalytic Power of Radical Engagement, is a practical guide for people aiming to drive long-lasting change within and across their communities, organizations, and societies. In it, Kahane suggests seven everyday habits that enable ordinary people to become extraordinary agents of transformation. These include cracking open entrenched systems with simple actions, uncovering hidden leverage points, and persevering through setbacks with renewed purpose and energy.

Kahane previously held strategic positions at organizations such as Royal Dutch Shell, where he led the social-political-economic scenario team, and has been affiliated with institutions such as the Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford and the Paris Institute of Advanced Study.

He is a Member of the Order of Canada, and in 2022 was named a Schwab Foundation Social Innovation Thought Leader of the Year at the World Economic Forum in Davos. He has degrees in physics, energy and resources, applied behavioral science, and cello performance—reflecting a multidimensional perspective that informs his work. Canadian by birth, he divides his time between Montreal and Cape Town.