Pursuit of Understanding Within Complexity
How we can improve our response to hard problems as individuals and organizations
Moving deeper into difficult thinking and remaining there when it’s uncomfortable is a smarter play for solving problems. It’s a point that one leader recently stressed.
“At Notre Dame, we must do more than complain,” said Robert A. Dowd, the school’s president. “We must deepen our understanding of the complexity of the situation and work with others to propose sensible and humane solutions.
“That’s what universities are for,” he said in response to the immigration debate.
The following Communication Intelligence discussion, however, is not about that specific topic. It’s about what Dowd said, generally speaking, for organizations and us as individuals.
Notice that he didn’t speak for anyone else but the place where he leads. Dowd is an example though of how leaders can, yet don’t always, approach hard problems.
A special thanks to David Murray’s (highly-recommended) Executive Communication Report newsletter for sharing the news story that inspired this discussion and article.
Developing ourselves into individuals, organizations and society that will commit to deepening our understanding of the complexity of situations requires insight and more intelligent effort.
“It begins with our willingness to slow down and truly observe,” says Sharon Burnett, who spent nearly two decades in corporate leadership across international business management, development and acquisition and is now the founder at Remembering Who I Am.
“Across all of those environments — corporate, personal development and now, through my work at RWIA, I’ve consistently seen how often complexity gets oversimplified and how powerful it is when people learn to pause and look deeper.”
Feeling agitation can lead us away from what is needed and how we could respond.
“Marshall Rosenberg said, ‘We are dangerous when we are not conscious of our responsibility for how we behave, think and feel,’” Burnett says. “Complaining is often unconscious. It vents emotion but doesn’t expand awareness. Complexity requires awareness and curiosity.”
She points to a common belief commonly taken as truth.
“For individuals, deepened understanding comes when we realize that our first interpretation is rarely the full picture,” Burnett says.
“When we pause long enough to question our assumptions, we begin to see the emotional dynamics, histories, pressures and unspoken needs influencing the situation.”
There is a difference when this trouble is occurring in a professional context.
“Within organizations, this approach only emerges when leaders model a willingness to sit with nuance rather than rushing toward oversimplified solutions,” Burnett asserts.
“During my corporate years — especially in acquisitions and cross-border leadership — those who handled complexity most effectively were the ones who allowed multiple perspectives into the conversation before deciding.”
She points a lesson and memory that had a profound effect on her.
“Clare W. Graves, whose work Don Beck expanded, captured this beautifully: ‘Healthy development requires the ability to see the world through multiple lenses.’ That’s what navigating complexity really requires,” Burnett says. “Openness, humility and the capacity to recognize that no single perspective holds the entire truth.”
“When our cognitive and emotional bandwidth is stretched, we instinctually seek the simple, such as complaining, rather than the complex, like understanding,” says Amberley Meredith, a psychologist and the author of the “Adaptable Sustainable Psychology” collection.
“We reach for the activated reaction rather than the considered and conscious response. … this could be difficult to change.”
She explains what has to happen for commitment to “better” and improvement.
“It must start with the individual, then it can move to the collective,” Meredith says.
If sufficient personal-or-organizational development hasn’t yet developed to working well with others, there is important, critical work to be done.
“Working well with others begins with the internal emotional posture we bring into the interaction,” Burnett says. “Collaboration requires emotional steadiness, empathy and the ability to listen without preparing a rebuttal. Without those qualities, even the best-intentioned conversations break down.”
This is extremely difficult, especially when we feel strongly emotionally about a problem, other people or our point of view.
“On an individual level, collaboration deepens when we loosen our grip on being ‘right.’ … When we stop seeing alternative perspectives as a threat, we create space for genuine understanding.”
She recalls when she was impressed in organizations.
“In my corporate years, particularly in international negotiations,” Burnett says, “I saw how much more effective collaboration became when people felt safe to speak honestly and bring forward their unique insights.
“When people feel seen and valued, they become far more generous, cooperative and solution-focused.”
The How
“Diverse viewpoints must be actively welcomed, not simply tolerated,” Burnett says. “When teams are encouraged to share openly, the solutions that emerge are stronger, more innovative and more humane."
“At a societal level, the commitment to working well with others requires us to stay engaged even when conversations become uncomfortable.
“Sensible and humane solutions arise when people are willing to sit with tension long enough to discover shared ground.”
“Ultimately, collaboration is a developmental journey,” Burnett says.
“When individuals, organizations, and communities cultivate openness, emotional maturity and the willingness to see through multiple lenses, working well with others becomes the natural foundation for wiser, more compassionate solutions.”
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Communication Intelligence began as online magazine (2021-2024) on another platform and during that time, also became a free-or-paid newsletter on Substack. The C.I. brand additionally offers individuals and organizations a variety of services, from written communications as well as communication consulting and coaching.
The newsletter is written by a former newspaper reporter, magazine writer, talk show host and communications consultant and advisor.
