What brings people together? What drives them apart? And what's fear got to do with it? In this episode I'm joined by Alison (Ali) Goldsworthy to explore polarisation at work, and why it's rarely as simple as differing opinions.
Co-author of the bestselling book Poles Apart, Ali has spent over 25 years working in politics and movement building. The recent focus of her work is to reduce political polarisation when it reaches excessive levels, supporting businesses, nonprofits and universities.
Together we unpack how fear breeds polarisation and vice versa - how it affects our thinking, judgement and decision making, and the implications on team work, organisations and society.
We discuss:
- How the very tools we use to bring people together can turn belonging into division
- How uncertainty, unemployment and inflation can make polarisation more likely
- How fear distorts how we our brains process information
- What happens when fear of saying the wrong thing keeps us silent
- Why being the most open-minded person in the room might be harder than it sounds
If you've ever found yourself dismissing someone before you've really heard them - or wondered what it takes to build a diverse team, rather than a divided one - this conversation will help.
About Guest
Alison (Ali) Goldsworthy is the co-author of the bestselling book Poles Apart, founder of The Depolarization Project and host of the podcast Changed My Mind. Her work focuses on reducing political polarisation when it reaches excessive levels, supporting businesses, nonprofits and universities.
She previously led the team behind the UK's fastest-growing consumer movement at Which?, successfully introducing opt-out organ donation in Wales, and has worked in both Parliament and the Senedd. Poles Apart is now a course she lectures with The Intellectual Forum, Jesus College, Cambridge and she lectures at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, overseeing work on their Leadership for Society program.
Find out more: https://www.opendemocracy.net/author/the-depolarization-project/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aligoldsworthy/
Ali’s book, Poles Apart: https://uk.bookshop.org/a/8547/9781847942975
The podcast was produced by pronkproductions.com
