On Medium.com: Why the battle between democracy and autocracy will be decided by our most vulnerable moments, by Corrina Grace

It’s no state secret that Biden’s worldview when it comes to foreign policy is an extension of what he considers a global battle, one pitting democracy against autocracy. On the one side we have the prominent figure of Xi Jinping arguing that consensus takes too long in a fast-moving world, and that only autocracies are equipped to meet the extraordinary 21st challenges that we face. On the other, leaders like Biden who are desperately trying to prove that democracy works — before it’s too late.

But it won’t be either of these powerful men — or any other world leaders — who decide the final outcome of this ideological warfare. It will be up to us, and how we show up as our world becomes increasingly uncomfortable.

The Wise Adult and the Adaptive Child

Just recently I was running a training program for a group of highly accomplished social sector leaders. As with all of my training programs, it was experiential. That means that the learning was not just theoretical, but a lived experience — a methodology that I believe is much better at transforming knowledge to wisdom.

It was a challenging situation, and many of the people in the room were feeling stretched outside their comfort zone (a sure sign that learning is happening). As can often happen in stressful situations that feel out of our control, people’s defence mechanisms began to be activated and pre-programmed survival mechanisms started to take control (you can read more about this in a blog I wrote on transformative leadership practices for turbulent times).