What if disagreement is exactly what your team needs?

In this Box of Keys episode, I explore why pushing too hard for total agreement can actually hold your team back. When everyone feels pressured to nod along with the strategy, what you often get is hidden tension, quiet resentment, and a lack of true engagement.

But disagreement isn’t a problem to eliminate ... it’s an opportunity to explore. When we create space for dissent and ask questions like “tell me more about why you disagree,” we uncover blind spots, surface fresh ideas, and build strategies that people truly believe in.

This episode is a reflection on how leaders can turn moments of tension into moments of clarity. By leaning into disagreement with curiosity, we transform conflict into creativity, invite real collaboration, and ultimately move the team forward together with greater energy and commitment.

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The Unlock Moment podcast is brought to you by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD. Downloaded in over 120 countries. Sign up to The Unlock Moment newsletter at https://tinyurl.com/ywhdaazp Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com

In August 2025, I travelled to Kyiv, Ukraine, during a week that marked both the country’s Independence Day and one of the largest aerial attacks on the capital since the war began.

I wanted to understand, firsthand, what life is really like in a city at war. To walk its streets. To listen to its people. To witness what the headlines can’t capture.

What I found was a city of striking contrasts. Playgrounds beside burned-out tanks. Gold-domed cathedrals standing silent under the threat of missile strikes. A grand hotel ballroom turned emergency bunker. Every conversation just one step away from someone who has lost someone. And always, an inescapable tension beneath the resilience.

This is not analysis from afar. It is a personal reflection on resilience, survival, and the quiet courage of people living through extraordinary circumstances. From Kyiv, Ukraine … this is a special edition of my Box of Keys.

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The Unlock Moment podcast is brought to you by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD. Downloaded in over 120 countries. Sign up to The Unlock Moment newsletter at https://tinyurl.com/ywhdaazp Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com

You can’t fix what no one feels safe to say out loud.

In this episode, I sit down with astronaut Dr Charles Camarda to explore the cultural roots of catastrophic failure ... and how even the most advanced organisations can lose their way. We talk about the moments that led to the Columbia tragedy, the silence that surrounded it, and what Charlie learned when he was removed from his role after speaking out.

This is a conversation about what real leadership looks like in high-pressure environments. Not just launching missions - but creating space for truth, dissent, and critical thinking at every level of a team.

Charlie Camarda is a former NASA astronaut, research engineer, and Director of Engineering. He’s spent nearly five decades working at the intersection of innovation and risk ... and he’s on a mission to help leaders learn from the failures we don’t talk about enough.

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The Unlock Moment podcast is brought to you by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD. Downloaded in over 120 countries. Sign up to The Unlock Moment newsletter at https://tinyurl.com/ywhdaazp Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com