Tori Gittens

Kara Lawson shares why great teams embrace conflict. Most people think chemistry means the absence of conflict. Everybody agreeing all the time. But Lawson says that's not just wrong - it's backwards. "Conflict is a pivotal part of a successful team. There's no absence of conflict in successful teams." Read that again. Not despite conflict - because of it. "You know what there's an absence of? There's an absence of the conflict lingering. That's the difference." "There's gonna be conflict. You're gonna be mad at me sometimes. I'm gonna be mad at you sometimes. You're gonna be mad at each other." She's not describing a worst-case scenario. She's describing Tuesday. "But the teams that have success - they don't allow the pettiness to linger. They don't allow it to fester." Fester is the operative word. Conflict itself isn't the infection. Letting it sit untreated is. "Squash that thing, man, when it's over." Then she says the part that explains everything else: "We disagree about something on Wednesday - but on Friday, we don't have it still be there." 1-2 days later...that's the standard. Not never disagreeing. Not holding a grudge for a season. "You commit to one another so that when there is conflict, you're able to move past it. That's why you commit to someone else - 'cause you're gonna have conflict. It's inevitable." That reframes commitment entirely. You don't commit to a team because conflict won't happen. You commit because it will - and you need people who'll work through it with you instead of walking away from it. The strongest teams aren't the ones with the least friction. They're the ones with the shortest memory for it. (🎥@DukeWBB)