Elizabeth Doty’s (Executive Director of Third Side Strategies) conversation with David Grayson (co-host and Professor Emeritus of Corporate Responsibility at Cranfield University) and Mark Lee (Global Director, Thought Leadership at ERM) is now available online.
In Developing the Third Side, Elizabeth, Mark and David explore the pressures on companies in a polarized, volatile world and whether lessons from conflict resolution and mediation might apply. Elizabeth shared her interpretation that today, societal conflict often becomes destructive, where competing factions are so frustrated that they focus more on what causes the other side to lose than on what they ultimately want.
By contrast, one way out of such gridlock is to focus on what you are “for” -- and to engage in ways that focus on the “third side,” including shared interests, a shared future, fair processes and respect. To illustrate, Elizabeth, David and Mark walked through the four Erb Principles for Corporate Political Responsibility – Legitimacy, Accountability, Responsibility and Transparency – which reflect long-term business values and the interests of many stakeholders.
In a contentious environment, the first place for companies to apply this approach is in their internal decision-making. This makes it easier to communicate externally with stakeholders and engage across divides, without sacrificing trust or undermining long-term interests.
Listen to the podcast at GlobeScan: https://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/10.1287/mnsc.2025.00819