Leadership across divides

In organizations and teams, different values, generations, cultural backgrounds and worldviews increasingly meet head-on.

In this context, leadership is not only about making decisions – it is about holding tension without hardening. Staying present in difficult conversations without forcing quick closure. Taking conflict seriously without getting lost in it.

This workshop creates a space where such tensions become visible and workable – not primarily by talking about them, but by working with them in the room.

For people in leadership and decision-making roles – especially:

• entrepreneurs, founders, managing directors
• team and department leaders
• HR and organizational leaders
• coaches and consultants working with groups or organizations

The main requirement is not prior experience but attitude: a willingness to be part of the process – not only an observer.

• more clarity about your own part in conflict
• more inner stability in polarized situations
• more room to act – even when no quick solution exists
• more presence in difficult conversations and team dynamics

It is not about being right. It is about becoming more mobile again – in your actions and in the shared space.

This workshop is not suitable for people who

• mainly want to watch
• are looking for quick fixes or clear answers
• collect techniques without bringing themselves into the process
• do not want to show up in a protected space

The work thrives on presence, participation and responsibility for one’s own actions.

The work is based on Theatre for Living – an experiential approach rooted in Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed and developed further by David Diamond over decades.

A central element is the format Rainbow of Desire. It makes inner contradictions, blocking dynamics and competing impulses visible by embodying them and bringing them into relationship in the room.

Unlike purely analytical or dialogue-based formats, the work is not only about talking – it is about working with conflict through body, voice and action.

• physical and spatial
• dialogical, not confrontational
• process-oriented rather than solution-fixated

No prior experience is required. What matters is willingness to engage and to take responsibility for one’s own process.

The workshop is intentionally designed for a limited group size.

This creates enough diversity for the work while keeping sufficient depth and presence. Observing and acting alternate organically.

The limited size is part of the approach – not a marketing tactic.

At the center is working with inner and interpersonal tension – the kind that arises in leadership, roles and systems.

This is not technique training. It is competence through experience: perception, presence, capacity for ambivalence, and expanding your room to act.

The workshop is designed as a continuous process over 2.5 days.

Start late morning on Day 1 – finishing early afternoon on Day 3. Participants receive detailed times after registration.

The first day is for arriving, getting to know the approach, and opening the shared space.

• check-in & entry
• introduction to Theatre for Living
• first shared processes in the room

Day 2 is the core. The work deepens, dynamics become clearer, tensions more specific.

• deepening Theatre for Living work
• alternating between acting and observing
• working with real tensions from leadership, roles and systems

Day 3 is for integration and consolidation.

• bringing experiences together
• reflection and transfer
• closing within the protected frame of the group

Finish early afternoon.

Depending on final conditions, an open public evening may take place (e.g., Rainbow of Desire).

If it happens, it is not a show or add-on program – it is an open experiential space. Details will follow.

Rainbow of Desire works with inner conflict and ambivalent impulses – not through analysis, but through embodiment and relationship in the room.

Whether and in which form this evening takes place will be announced in time.

The workshop remains a protected space. Personal processes are not displayed or performed.

The workshop itself remains a protected space. Personal processes are not displayed or performed.

This workshop is an in-person format. The work relies on physical presence, attention and relationship in the room.

• No streaming
• No parallel online participation

The working language is clear, accessible English.

Participation requires:

• willingness to engage actively
• a mindful approach to yourself and others
• personal responsibility for your boundaries

This is not a therapeutic setting, but an experiential learning and working environment.

The workshop takes place in Salzburg.

The exact venue will be shared with participants in time.

The workshop runs for 2.5 days (April 7–9):

• Day 1: start late morning
• Day 2: full working day
• Day 3: finish early afternoon

Participants receive detailed times after registration.

• Shared breaks are part of the frame
• Lunch breaks are scheduled – food is organized individually or by agreement

Travel and accommodation are arranged by participants. Suggestions near the venue will be provided.

Participation is limited and via inquiry.

This is not about selection or assessment, but about fit: between group, approach, and your motivation.

After your inquiry you will receive further information about the process, conditions, and how to confirm your place.

The workshop takes place with a minimum of 10 participants.

The group size is intentionally limited. Once the maximum is reached, no further registrations are possible.

An early inquiry helps planning, but does not yet commit you.

Once your place is confirmed, participation becomes binding. Cancellation fees may apply if you cancel later, as places cannot always be replaced at short notice.

By registering you agree to:

• be present for the full workshop duration
• participate actively in the process
• respect the protected frame of the group

This is a compact, intensive experiential space for people in leadership and decision-making roles. The focus is on competence and attitude – not on learning techniques.

The fee for the 2.5-day workshop is:

• € 749

The fee includes:

• participation in the closed workshop (April 7–9)
• all workshop processes and materials within the frame of the work

Places are intentionally limited. Participation is via inquiry.

Depending on final conditions, an open public evening may take place. It can be attended independently from the workshop. Details (format, ticketing, timing) will follow once confirmed.

Participation is limited. After your inquiry you will receive information about availability and next steps.

The workshop is facilitated by David Diamond, co-founder of Theatre for Living.

For more than three decades, David has worked with communities, organizations and groups in highly polarized contexts. At the center of his work is what he calls “the work of understanding”: keeping people in dialogue where division, fear or ideological rigidity are already at work.

Theatre for Living evolved from Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed and has been developed further by David over decades – not to win arguments, but to expand room to act.

Across many projects worldwide – including work with Indigenous communities, consultants, educational settings and public institutions – this approach has proven itself as a form of bridge-building: between “us” and “them”, between inner experience and outer reality, between conflict and dialogue.

David understands his role not as a teacher or therapist, but as someone who holds spaces where understanding can become possible – voluntary, embodied, and responsible.

This workshop offers people in leadership and decision-making roles direct access to this attitude and way of working.

Hosted by Martin Kouba, Salzburg.

Martin Kouba is an entrepreneur and founder of Purpoze – an initiative for conscious work on personal, organizational and societal questions.

This workshop is an invitation to pause and look more closely: at what pulls, blocks, or creates tension.

Not to fix something – but to regain mobility in action and in shared space.

If this way of working resonates and you can imagine being part of an intense 2.5-day process, we look forward to your inquiry.

Participation is limited and via inquiry.

This is not about selection or assessment, but about fit: between group, approach, and your motivation.

After your inquiry you will receive further details about the schedule, conditions, and how to confirm your place.

The workshop takes place with a minimum of 10 participants.