Originally published on Thrive Global by Charlie Katz, Executive Creative Director at Bitbean. As part of the series about the “Five Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Leader During Turbulent Times”, Thrive Global had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Bart Barthelemy, Founding Director of the Wright Brothers Institute and the President of the Collaborative Innovation Institute.

Once upon a time, around the turn of the 12th Century, all of Britain was in turmoil. Hundreds of knights, some lords and some ladies, laid claim to various parts of the British Isles and their main pastime was fighting each other to gain a little more territory and assert a little more of their power. Then along came Arthur! He crafted a round table, took Merlin the futurist as his advisor, convinced the knights to sit equally around the table and play nice with each other. He then ordered them to go find and bring back the Holy Grail, an almost-impossible goal. And then they lived happily ever after.

Each acclaimed in their sport by some to be the “best ever”, what does Tom Brady have in common with Billy Jean King, along with many other high achievers across the sports spectrum? They each credit Tim Gallwey and his Inner Game approach to sport and life as the source of their mental strength, when they needed it most, on sport’s global stage. What was the difference in Tom Brady’s performance in the NFC Championship Game against Aaron Rogers and the Green Bay Packers? What will be the difference in the 55th Super Bowl against the Kansas City Chiefs, Brady’s 10th?

Collaborative Innovation is a powerful organizational practice that utilizes collaboration to produce breakthrough Innovation. Since it is dependent on a foundation of genuine collaboration, the first step in achieving Collaborative Innovation is to create an organizational culture of committed collaboration.

For me, with Collaborative Innovation, there’s only one thing: finding common ground, common identity, listening generously to each other talk, asking questions, and even for a few moments, finding a new freedom to choose. Collaborative Innovation comes with the experience of “us.”

What holds us down from becoming collaborative? Could it be that our very self-centered realities are the chains that bind us? As human beings, we have been designed for self preservation and much of our thinking and behavior must support this purpose. The very essence of our being is trapped by the gravity of our self-interests. But what if we could break free from this Force?

The heart of Collaboration is the ability to connect and move on, generous listening, curiosity, straight talk, coach-ability and willingness to let go. That’s the transformation always available that stays hidden by power and position, self importance, impatience and the absence of dialogue.

Every team wants collaboration and every organization wants innovation. Yet there are thousands of books, seminars and articles produced each year that focus on how to help you achieve these capabilities. So combining the two should be even harder. Surprisingly, not so!

The world has been turned on its head. No matter where you live, what you do or how you do it, today it is different than it used to be before Covid-19. For many, it is no longer about growth in a business or community, it is about survival. Where does one look for the best survival formula, when everything is at risk?

The Overview Effect is a moment almost too elusive to put into words in which, as with the term ‘love,’ the experience begins to disappear the more you talk about it. The more words, the less Wonder and Awe, the less resonant feeling energy is there. Significance and meaning evaporate in our attempts to define just what the Overview Effect is.

We are Thought Leaders studying and managing interaction and collaboration of multiple partners to deliver new solutions and new futures in business, cultural, or social systems. This Journal takes a deep dive into the core of successful Collaborative Innovation and explores breakthroughs beyond what already seems possible.