Healing Divides: A Call for Courageous Leadership and a Builder Mindset

Right now, our public square is plagued by outrage.

Strong emotions flare when deeply held personal values feel under attack. And too often, it feels like the “other side” not only disagrees – but cares about the wrong things entirely. That “other side” isn’t just politicians. It’s also my brother, my neighbor, my childhood friend.

For more than 15 years, our news feeds have been different. Our facts have been different. And beneath it all runs an outrage machine – the algorithm – built to divide, not unite.

So, how do we break this cycle? 

Outrage Spreads. So Does Hope.

Emotions are contagious. While outrage and disgust are “sticky” emotions that spread easily, so are hope, wonder, awe, and beauty, notes Heather Blakeslee of Root Quarterly. “What we pay attention to matters.”

At Leadership Austin, we just welcomed a cross-section of 60+ leaders into the Essential and Emerge classes of 2026. Their stories span political, professional, and personal experiences. They may disagree on policy priorities, yet one thing unites them: a shared desire to strengthen community.

At our opening retreats, we broke bread together. We shared stories. We listened. We laughed. We wrestled with complex data. We looked one another in the eye. 

This is where connection happens. This is where the magic happens – the magic where leaders connect, forge trust, discover shared passions, and begin to collaborate on projects, big and small, to build thriving cities.

Incongruence: A Mirror for Leaders and for America

In the wake of recent tragedies – the assassination of Charlie Kirk and other victims of political violence – the nation is confronting the state of public discourse. And freedom of speech, which we must never take for granted! (As I am writing this, Afghanistan experienced a two-day internet blackout. Imagine no access to information or each other .)  These events are symptoms of a larger issue: a society struggling to reconcile its ideals with its actions, to understand the evolution of own news consumption habits, and a public square increasingly dominated by division. Rising polarization has been boiling beneath the surface for years, and 2025 has made the consequences impossible to ignore. 

Reflecting on this moment with the Leadership Austin team, one word kept surfacing: incongruence. 

• Between what we say we want – respectful dialogue – and how we actually behave online and in person. 
• Between our yearning for community and the isolation so many feel. 
• Between the loud extremes dominating headlines and the quiet majority of Americans who want something better (yet are fatigued and feel powerless).

For a leader, incongruence is the gap between who we are and who we aspire to be – our ideal self vs. our real self. That gap is not weakness – it is the growth zone, the place where transformation, courage, and real impact are born.

 

Image Source: Positive Psychology

America, too, is in its growth zone – poised between our highest ideals and our messy reality. We are a nation of extraordinary blessings, ingenuity, freedom, and opportunity. Yet we are also a nation reckoning with our flaws and the hard choices of what to preserve and what to change. The question is urgent: Will we rise toward our ideals or retreat into fear and division?

America, the beautiful. America, the hot mess. Both are real. Both are ours.

The American experiment is unfinished. The question we must answer, together, is this: Who will we become next?

• What kind of nation will we choose to be? 
• What kind of communities will we build? 
• What kind of organizations will we lead? 
• What kind of leader will I choose to be? 
• What kind of future will I help create?

This is our moment. The growth zone is calling. Will we step out of our comfort zone through the fear zone, and toward the learning and growth zone? Will we choose courage over comfort, connection over division, and creativity over destruction? The choice is ours.

We will need to make hard choices again and again. This is America’s long horizon. Leaders today are doing the work of generations.

The Path Forward: Builders, Not Bystanders

We cannot wait for politicians or influencers to save us. Healing divides starts closer to home – in our neighborhoods, our workplaces, our schools, and our circles of trust.

As Vinay Orekondy, Co-Founder of Better Together America, reminds us, the answer is finding each other:

“How do we fight isolation? How do we fight disempowerment? How do we fight outrage? Starting with ourselves – the answer is by finding each other,” Orekondy said. “The answer is local community.”

The path forward calls for builders, not bystanders. Imagine expanding the way we relate to one another. What if we walked toward each other, not away? 

Let’s find each other. Here is what that looks like in practice:

Actions I’m Taking

• Choosing love, even when it’s not easy. Leading with care, not fear. Prioritizing relationships over “winning” arguments.
• Retraining my reactions. When I encounter outrage-inducing commentary, I don’t let it consume me. I pause, regulate, and choose curiosity. I seek to learn from it – or step away when needed. Being human means feeling strong emotions; what defines us is how we respond. (We teach emotional self-regulation techniques in our Open Courses!)
• Mixing my media diet. I seek news across perspectives (shoutout to Tangle).
• Showing up with bridge-builders. From the Dignity Leadership Summit to the National Community Leadership Collaborative, we are equipping leaders in cities across the country to bridge divides and create lasting connections.
• Giving myself grace. I’m a work in progress, and I honor that journey.

Actions We’re Taking at Leadership Austin

• Bringing leaders together. We are actively convening thought leaders and community builders to co-create a new way forward. Join the movement for Courageous Leadership and Genuine Connection. 
• Equipping leaders to lead with impact. Each year, we help hundreds of leaders and organizations show up with clarity, courage, and confidence. We offer crash courses and a certificate program on leaders bridging differences. 
• Inviting all voices. Leadership Austin seeks out viewpoints from all corners, not just one worldview. This work is layered, and we have not always gotten it right – but welcome critique and promise to keep pursuing balanced dialogue and welcoming all voices.
• Modeling healthy conflict. Rather than avoiding politics and religion, we practice disagreeing better. We “speak in rough drafts” and extend grace in tough conversations. When we navigate conflict in a constructive way, friction leads somewhere useful (as noted in High Conflict by Amanda Ripley). We move from gridlock toward solutions.

What We Can All Do

• Be curious, not furious. Ask questions, listen, and be willing to say: “I learned something from you.”
• Trade scrolling for connecting. Less screen time, more real time – in nature and in community.
• Influence your circles. Most bridge-building happens not across divides, but within our own groups. As Andrew Hanauer, CEO of the One America Movement, reminds us: “The most important thing to do is to help shape the actions and behaviors of the place where you have the most influence – which is people who are in your group.”
• See beyond labels. No one is fully “right wing” or “left wing” and nothing more; we are all more complex than any category, and no one likes to be pigeonholed. Oversimplification fuels “us vs. them” thinking and creates echo chambers where people talk past each other instead of with each other. Ignoring nuance is like reading only the headlines of a person’s life – we miss the full story. Engage with the whole person, notice how often we assign a label, and uncover what we miss when we do.
• Support the doers. Thousands of organizations are building a healthier democracy – find and join them. Locally, plug into Braver Angels Central Texas and the Red Bench series. Nationally, check out the Builders Movement. 
• Be part of shaping the dialogue. If you have a strong point of view on this conversation, bring it forward. Submit a proposal for the Leadership Austin Conference.
• Contribute to the conversation. There are resources and thought leadership we don’t yet know about – share what you have and help grow the collective understanding.

The Unfinished Experiment

Community Leadership Programs are a place for difficult conversations – and we need more of them. This work is harder now, but also more essential.

We believe individual growth blossoms into community impact. The future depends on leaders who build, not break. Leaders who walk toward each other. Leaders who choose to live and lead with clarity, courage, and care.

The American experiment is unfinished. Who will we become?

If you’re ready to be a Builder – a courageous leader, a flexible thinker, a problem-solver – join us. Let’s find each other. Let’s walk toward each other. Let’s start building.

– By Jill R. Goodman | Chief Executive Officer, Leadership Austin