Managing Politically Conflictual Environments

We live increasingly in a world of political polarization and conflict. Disagreements, often violent, dramatically shape the challenges and opportunities that leaders face, whether it be while managing diverse organizations to addressing the future of the planet. So what can we do about it? In this course, participants will consider a series of decision-making challenges that leaders of organizations have faced in societies divided by political polarization and conflict. We will combine historical and contemporary examples drawn from countries around the world at critical moments of conflict or institutional change, along with insights distilled from the newest social science research on how to address these issues. This includes work conducted by us at the Stanford Conflict and Polarization Lab. By the end of the course, participants will develop a new set of tools for identifying when, where and how they can be effective leaders in societies divided by political polarization and conflict.