Big ideas, strong-willed characters, impossible deadlines and close quarters — if you wrote out a recipe for conflict, it might bear an uncanny resemblance to the high-stakes, pressure-cooker environment of a startup.
Of course, any situation where people come together to solve tough problems will inevitably give rise to disagreement. The key to sustainable innovation is making sure that disagreement is productive rather than inhibitive, paving a path forward instead of placing self-imposed roadblocks on progress. And in the emotionally-intense setting of a startup, it’s all the more important to take care that the embers of conflict don’t grow into an unmanageable conflagration.
