Larry D. Lauer

There has been much talk this year about how polarized US politics has become. The intensity of the situation has reminded me of why many universities ended their debate programs over the years.

Some institutions were concluding that while competitive debating taught students how to stick with an extreme position until the bitter end, argument to that extreme rarely if ever produced actionable conclusions. One could devise a way to score the competition, but the result was winners and losers based on a point scale, and not a framework for collaborative decision-making.

In my work, I have found that super intelligent people can chose to use their superior talent in one of two ways: They can use it to be more cleaver than the other person, thereby out-maneuvering their competition. Or, they can use it to find constructive ways to solve real problems. The result of the first approach is always a polarized environment where everything becomes a horse race with people taking sides, and the second approach is much more likely to enable teamwork and eventual progress.

The problem-solving approach requires learning the art of compromise. And while partisan politics may require clarifying ideology during campaigns, the business of governing requires frequent teamwork once the campaign is over. So what does learning the art of compromise require?

My experience suggests that compromise first requires a commitment to clarify and understand all the action possibilities. Teamwork requires a willingness to brainstorm ideas first, and then analyze the pros and cons of each alternative. It means having a predisposed willingness to follow the directions careful analysis dictate, and a fundamental belief that when a solution with more pros than cons is finally articulated, that a decision to act never has to be final. It can always be revised along the way based on actual experience.  

In other words, compromising to win means that you are able to see beyond what you gave up now to what can happen later on through experience and revision. And I believe this applies to finding revenue to offset a nation’s debt, as well as to important decision-making in organizations.