In the dark of night, through the mud and the monsoon rain, Richard Harris and a group of cave divers band together for a risky mission to rescue a group of boys from a flooded cave in Thailand.

Her country split down the middle, Julia Gillard negotiates for 17 agonising days to win the support of crossbench politicians and become Australia’s first female prime minister.

To achieve big and lasting change, people need to find a way to speak across lines of difference and work together for a common goal.

But in a world of increasing polarisation, how you do bridge those divides?

Dr Kate Harrison Brennan is the director of the Sydney Policy Lab and a University of Sydney alumna. Her work brings people together to collaborate on solutions to the most pressing challenges of our time.

She shares practical ways to bring people together – be it at work, at home, or in the public policy sphere.

And Dr Richard Harris reflects on what the Thai cave rescue taught him about teamwork and trust.

To find out more about Dr Kate Harrison Brennan’s work visit the website of the Sydney Policy Lab.

Dr Richard Harris’s book is called The Art of Risk: What we can learn from the world’s leading risk-takers.

For the transcript and notes for this episode, visit the website.

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The Solutionists is a production of Deadset Studios.

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This episode was produced by Monique Ross. Sound design by Jeremy Wilmot. The executive producer is Rachel Fountain. Executive editors are Jen Peterson-Ward, Kellie Riordan and Mark Scott.

This podcast was recorded on the land of the Gadigal people of the Eora nation. For thousands of years, across innumerable generations, knowledge has been taught, shared and exchanged here. We pay respect to elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.