Why Getting Along With People You Don’t Like Is the Key to Social Change | Adam Kahane on Radical Collaboration

Episode Summary:
What if learning to collaborate with people you don’t trust—or even like—wasn’t revolutionary, but just healthy adulting?

In this episode of The Sidewalk Talk Podcast, Traci Ruble sits down with renowned facilitator and author Adam Kahane, known for guiding some of the world’s most complex social change efforts. Drawing from his influential books Power and Love and Collaborating with the Enemy, Adam invites us to rethink what it means to stay in dialogue across difference.

From attachment theory to political polarization, this conversation unpacks why radical engagement, abiding presence, and cohabitating with difference are essential relational muscles for our time. Adam also shares stories from the field and reminds us why walking and talking might be more powerful than we think.

If you’ve ever wondered how to work with people you disagree with—without giving up your integrity—this conversation is for you.

Timestamps:
00:00 – Welcome to Sidewalk Talk
01:07 – Meet Adam Kahane: Global facilitator, author, bridge-builder
04:13 – Adam’s surprising journey into conflict transformation
06:34 – Talking, listening, and the root of human connection
09:12 – What it takes to facilitate across divides
15:04 – Why connection is more powerful than persuasion
17:18 – Walking + talking = underrated healing tools
22:52 – Growth through pauses and discomfort
23:38 – The overlooked wisdom of cohabitation
25:38 – Adulting 101: Working with people we disagree with
27:18 – The dance between conflict and care
28:07 – “Abiding” and staying with the tension
29:39 – Attachment theory, differentiation, and dialogue
30:48 – Power, love, justice—and learning to hold all three
33:10 – What gets in the way of true collaboration
42:55 – Why radical engagement is the future