The opposite of civilization is human nature. And occasionally, regrettably, human nature finds a way to break through the behavioral, cultural, social, and even religious boundaries constructed assiduously around it. We define this “breaking through,” as conflict, violence, and—at the nation-state level—war. The purpose of civilization is to hold back Read more…
Will this be on the test? This is the question that we struggle with every new semester. It reveals what and where the focus of students has been trained into them over the last 12 years of primary schooling. Will this impact my grade? This is the question that reveals Read more…
For the innovative peacebuilder, the truly important switch must happen in how thinking about products and services cross the chasm. Most of the time, processes (such as mediation, negotiation, or dispute resolution) are confused with products. A process is, in essence, a service. Sure, there are sometimes opportunities to grow Read more…
The first sentence in a discussion anchors the rest of the conversation. “I need him to shut up.” “I don’t like what’s happening here.” “She doesn’t know what she’s talking about.” “The fact that we’re focusing on this issue is crazy.” “They don’t know what they are talking about.” “Who’s Read more…
The skills required to facilitate training for an audience with content that wasn’t developed by the facilitator, are the same skills sale people practice every day: Persuasion: Since a facilitator doesn’t create the presentation content (or product) they are facilitating (just like the sales person doesn’t create the product they Read more…
As the economic, cultural, and spiritual forces that used to bind us together continue to refragment from overarching macro-cultures to indispensable micro-cultures, alternative dispute resolution practitioners must take notice. Overarching macro-culture was driven by communal events, television, economic stability, and overarching cultural “norms” that allowed people to engage in conflicts Read more…
“My mind is made up.” Well…ok then. Your mindset, your framing of the world and the way that it’s ‘supposed’ to work, your story that you tell yourself about your conflicts, disputes, and differences of opinion, can be changed. Unlike in the old Ten Commandments movie from back in the Read more…
If you’re building a peace project, it’s important to understand what you’re creating in the product phase, so that you understand what you’re selling. Many creators misunderstand the idea of a minimal viable product. The definition, created by the writer Eric Ries (he of Lean Start-Up fame), is as follows: Read more…
Think for a moment about product packaging: Everything that we buy, from dish soap to artesian water, comes in some type of package. Being the rational consumers that we are, we often tell ourselves that the shape of the container, the way that the container is delivered to us, or Read more…
Implementation, coaching, mentoring, and supporting through experiences matters more to adult learning in a corporate setting, than sitting in a room for four hours listening to a facilitator. The drop-off in retention after such an experience is 50% after participants leave the room, and without immediate changes, immediate implementation of Read more…