PEXforum22 was all about building bridges and fostering collaboration, and Istanbul served the event’s spirit in many ways.

As Rana Kotan, the general secretary of TÜSEV, beautifully put in her welcoming remarks, the city mimics the times we live in; intriguing with its potential and energy, while intimidating with its uncertainty and instability. Born and raised in Istanbul, I can confidently tell that the city invites you to navigate chaos on a daily basis. You learn to embrace uncertainty and take a different road opening up to new possibilities. There’s order in this chaos, and it helps you develop a skill to disrupt yourself at a very young age.

This year the PEXforum focused on ‘Driving (eco)systems change: Exploring the transformative power of collaboration in philanthropy’. Being a first-time attendee and working as a consultant on organizational transformation, I had a chance to follow the event through a different lens. Currently, how we run our organizations is less than efficient at addressing complex problems. Considering the scale of planetary (here I follow Indy Johar’s advice to replace ‘global’) challenges we face today, disrupting the ways we solve problems seems like the only way to solve them.

As a strategist in mind and a human-centred design enthusiast at heart, I believe in the power of changing the question to change the conversation. During the event, my PEX notebook was full of questions. I would like to share some of them with you in the hope of triggering new conversations.

1. How might we become more vulnerable to get stronger?

During our casual conversation with the community, ‘ego’ was repetitively mentioned as a critical barrier hindering collaboration. I kept thinking about the deeper meaning of the word from the lens of the community and came to realize that we probably should reformulate it as a problem of vulnerability. We assume that collaboration starts with trust, and then vulnerability takes the stage. However, recent studies are showing us that we’ve got it backwards. Vulnerability doesn’t come after trust—it precedes it.

Discovering the barriers to vulnerability and designing experiences to overcome them is an essential journey to foster collaboration in philanthropy.

2. How might we agree less to discover more?

We all perceive the world through our unique lens; we all see different things and see things differently. Even talking about ‘collaboration’, we all have a slightly different interpretation of the term, depending on our background, expectations, and cultural codes. Coming together with an international group creates an opportunity to become aware that many different perspectives exist; it helps us build a better understanding of the world. Still, we tend to suppress and avoid conflict, inclining towards ‘agreeing’. However, if we are on the quest for new ideas, coming to a quick agreement is not always the best way to move forward. We should not be afraid of disagreement as long as we are listening with a willingness to change.

Designing safe spaces that enable the collision of ideas and letting go of the pressure of alignment is sometimes the most efficient way to build authentic partnerships.

3. How might we love the messiness?

A ‘system’ refers to order, while an ‘ecosystem’ refers to a living system, and like any other living organism, it tries to make sense of the world by building upon past experiences. Yet, knowledge is no longer enough to predict a system’s behaviour. Complex problems are messy, and solving them requires a love of messiness. We, as human beings, should recognize and celebrate our capacity to embrace uncertainty and have faith to be able to leap into the unknown.

Adapting to a new level of agility and flexibility that goes beyond current methods of collaboration would help us navigate through the unknown with greater confidence.

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As a fresh and proud member, I truly believe that the PEX community has the potential to invent new ways of working together that would set a standard for other ecosystems in driving change. Looking forward to exploring the possibilities together!

Derya Tombuloğlu is the founder of Heart Mind Design, a consulting firm based in Istanbul, helping organizations transform with purpose and create value for all stakeholders.