FLAME with Brad Hook
Conflict as a Creative Force: Embracing Tension for Transformation
Jennifer Jones-Patulli has spent twenty years on a contrarian idea: conflict isn't a failure state to eliminate — it's energy, and leaders who learn to work with it unlock innovation the harmonious never find.
Most organisations treat conflict as damage: suppress it, smooth it, escalate it to HR. Jennifer's human-systems approach reframes it as information and fuel — tension marks the places where perspectives genuinely differ, which is exactly where new thinking lives.
We cover how to frame conflict within systems rather than personalities, practical strategies for leaders to hold productive tension without letting it turn corrosive, and the relational dynamics that let teams argue well and emerge stronger. Immediately relevant to anyone leading capable, opinionated people.
In this episode
- Conflict as information and fuel, not damage
- Systems framing vs personality blaming
- Holding productive tension without corrosion
- How teams learn to argue well
- The innovation hiding inside disagreement
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