Leadership for a Fractured World

CHAPTER 6Building Bridges

Connecting Groups Divided by Deep Fractures

When deep, wide fractures develop between groups and people refuse to work together to address shared challenges, the leadership task is to help groups build a bridge of connection and understanding. The work necessitates helping groups modify their perceptions of the other, to transcend their tribalizing impulses, and to work together on behalf of creating a shared future. Specifically, bridge building over fractures is needed when

unresolved issues in the present or from the past are causing friction and enmity;

competing priorities have led to misunderstandings, growing ...