Contents
Foreword by Peter Block
INTRODUCTION: How to Work with People You Don’t Agree with or Like or Trust
1: COLLABORATION IS BECOMING MORE NECESSARY AND MORE DIFFICULT
“I could never work with those people!”
The central challenge of collaboration
2: COLLABORATION IS NOT THE ONLY OPTION
“The miraculous option is that we work things through together”
There are three alternatives to collaboration
Collaboration must be a choice
3: CONVENTIONAL, CONSTRICTED COLLABORATION IS BECOMING OBSOLETE
Constriction prevents movement
Change management assumes control
“There is only one right answer”
The limitations of conventional collaboration
4: UNCONVENTIONAL, STRETCH COLLABORATION IS BECOMING ESSENTIAL
Stretching creates flexibility and discomfort
Stretch collaboration abandons the illusion of control
5: THE FIRST STRETCH IS TO EMBRACE CONFLICT AND CONNECTION
6: THE SECOND STRETCH IS TO EXPERIMENT A WAY FORWARD
We cannot control the future, but we can influence it
We are crossing the river by feeling for stones
Creativity requires negative capability
Listen for possibility rather than for certainty
7: THE THIRD STRETCH IS TO STEP INTO THE GAME
If you’re not part of the problem, you can’t be part of the solution
Be a pig rather than a chicken