In this episode of We Made This Political, hosts Lura Forcum and Lauren Hall talk with Cliff Kayser of Polarity Partnerships about “polarity thinking” as an alternative to false either/or binaries in politics and organizational life. Kayser explains polarities as interdependent pairs (like inhale/exhale or activity/rest) that can’t be solved by choosing one side, but can be leveraged over time by maximizing upsides and minimizing predictable downsides using a five-step process: seeing, mapping, assessing, learning, and leveraging. They discuss common polarities in democracy (freedom/authority, justice/due process, diversity/equality, human rights/communal obligations) and leadership (confidence/humility, task/relationship), plus pendulum swings such as centralization versus decentralization. The conversation connects low trust to either/or thinking and explores how AI and social media reinforce binary thinking, arguing humans must ask better questions and develop adaptive, coaching-oriented skills.
00:00 False Binaries Explained
00:32 Meet the Hosts and Guest
02:06 Polarity Thinking Basics
06:50 Democracy and Leadership Polarities
11:23 The Five Step Polarity Process
16:05 Pendulum Swings in Organizations
23:31 Part Whole in Politics
29:08 Why Politics Goes Either Or
38:05 Trust as the Hidden Ingredient
43:56 AI Bias Toward Either Or
53:20 Optimism and Where to Follow
56:36 Closing and Credits
Find Cliff’s Work
Read his Substack Cliff’s Notes.
Connect with him at Polarity Partnerships here.
