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Mindset #4: Create Collaboration

Encouraging collaboration is a great start, but closing the Health Gap calls for a bigger step: using leadership and authority to actively create it. In this episode, we break down how to make that shift—anchoring collaboration to a specific goal, making it a clear priority, and sharing real power with those who have lived experience.

Returning guest Kenny Wilk helps define what collaboration really means. We walk through the book’s progress formula (right people + good information + healthy process = progress), and explore why friction in the room is actually a sign you’re on the right track.

Highlights

• Why “everybody values collaboration” is true, and why almost nobody does it well.
• How people in authority can anchor collaboration around a bold, specific objective instead of leaving it vague.
• The difference between listening to people with lived experience and actually empowering them at the table.
• What does creating collaboration actually mean, and how does it differ from encouraging collaboration? 
• The progress formula: right people + good information + healthy process = progress
• Why friction in the room is a good sign, and why rooms full of people who already agree are a blind spot.
• Kenny’s reflection on acceptance: “Not agreement, acceptance. Not unanimity, acceptance.” 
• The difference between compromise (each side gives something up) and collaboration (you create something better than either side originally wanted).
• The rowboat and sail metaphor: ten people rowing together beat one person rowing alone, but when the captain asks what expertise the crew brings, they invent the sail.
• Kenny’s challenge to listeners: identify 10 people who haven’t read the book, send them a copy with a personal note, and pass it along.
• Ed’s practical tip for people in authority: just start asking questions. “Do we have all the right people? What information do we need? What should our process be?”

Chapters

• 2:03 — Why Collaboration Matters
• 2:36 — Anchor a Clear Goal
• 5:31 — Require Not Encourage
• 8:53 — Next Level: Lived Experience
• 12:07 — Kenny Joins the Show
• 14:25 — Defining Collaboration Better
• 17:36 — Progress Formula Explained
• 20:40 — Friction Means Progress
• 21:54 — Friction Reveals Blind Spots
• 22:51 — Acceptance Before Agreement
• 25:49 — Compromise Versus Collaboration
• 29:40 — Rowboat and Sail Metaphor
• 32:26 — Practical Steps to Spark Collaboration
• 36:25 — Ask the Right Questions
• 37:44 — Takeaways and Next Chapter

Resources

• Your Leadership Edge 
• Send a Copy of Leading Health To Your Network 

Leading Health is an invitation to move the needle on Health in Kansas, and we invite you to join us in leading the way. Claim your copy of the book and learn more about the movement.

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