The problem is that just like the word “fair,” the word “enough” means different things to different people. And just as there will never be “enough” (and a person should watch using words such as“never” and “always” as well, but for the purposes of this point, we’ll ignore that philosophical Read more…
It’s hard to place a dollar value on human-to-human interactions in the current (and growing) connection economy, because connection is about engaging in acts of caring. And whoever put a dollar value on acts of caring? But here are a few challenge questions if that’s your attitude: Whoever put a Read more…
If most negotiations are about whose version of reality will win, who decides what reality is? If many negotiations result in win-lose outcomes, are the “losers” as committed to the ultimate agreement as the “winners” are? If some negotiations happen because either party doesn’t ask the “right” questions, then what Read more…
Mediators, negotiators, facilitators, lawyers, therapists, and analysts do it all the time. When you understand the nature of the thing, it is almost impossible to avoid doing it. When you do it, sometimes you feel as though you are manipulating somebody else into doing something that they wouldn’t normally do. Read more…
Your organization’s litigation strategy is based on how your organization perceives giving an apology, taking responsibility, or passing around blame. Your organization’s litigation strategy is based on how the founder perceives conflict, engagement, resolution, and even resilience and grit. Your organization’s litigation strategy is based on how founders, executives, investors, Read more…
The part of the conflict process that is addressed the least (and the most) is the uncomfortable part. Not the scary part, where you’re actually doing the hard work of resolving an issue with people that you may (or may not) like. Not the uncomfortable part that comes after you’ve 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…
There are a lot of tips, tricks, “how-to’s” and hack based articles, blog posts, and columns, everywhere. And there always have been. Partially, this is because the people reading the articles want the easy out. This is evidenced in corporate training where attendees will say “I don’t want the theory, Read more…
When you talk with divorce and family lawyers about divorces, separations, or even “conscious uncouplings” a statement they always make in the course of the conversation focuses around their amazement that couple choose to go through a litigation based process. In particular, their statement tends to focus on the fact Read more…
…sometimes, it’s not about the money, or the prestige, or the status, or any of the external, ego-driven reasons that people give when asked “Why did you get into that fight?” Sometimes, it’s about sending a message to all the other parties involved (and standing on the sidelines) in a Read more…