The Crucial Pause with James Stauch, co-author of The 55 Minutes: An atlas to navigate problems, reveal systems and ask beautiful questions in a radically shifting world.

We’re good at proposing solutions. We’re less practiced at questioning whether we’re solving the right things.

Drawing on his book The 55 Minutes, James Stauch closes the Gathering by connecting its core threads: how we relate to one another, how we take responsibility for deeply interconnected ecosystems, and what a genuine culture of sustainability in Atlantic Canada could look like. He challenges the prevailing culture of “innovation theatre” and “solutions exhibitionism” that too often passes for progress.

The question he leaves us with: can we slow down long enough to fall in love with complexity?

A conversation from The Gathering 2026