The Longest Good-bye

Future historians looking at the sports marketing history of the United States will be puzzled by the rise and fall of American Baseball.  They will note that it mirrored the loss of attention span in the overall culture, the need for greater and more brutal spectacle (see the fall of Read more…

[Advice] Not Boring People to Tears

When presenting, varying pitch, tempo and word order can help a consultant or coach not bore the audience to tears. So can having a really awesome twist on a really boring and basic idea, concept or problem solving approach. The first approach takes time to develop and cannot happen without Read more…

The Missing Singularity

We don’t know if you’ve heard, but the singularity is coming. That moment in time when human beings unite with the technology that we have made and ascend gloriously to the stars… Unless, of course, some of us decide to not unite gloriously… Unless, of course, some of us decide Read more…

[Advice] 3 Stages to Launch – Part 1

There are three hard parts to launching any project: The first hard part is attaining technical knowledge (i.e. getting a degree, getting experience, phoning a friend, etc.). The second hard part is getting the necessary hardware together and attaining a certain level of comfort with it, particularly when the learning Read more…

The Truth in All of Us

Honesty is such an ugly word, everyone is so untrue. Except that while people may be untrue, they are often also unreliable, full of mixed motives and notoriously prone to following their own emotions and senses, rather than inclined provide the truth. How do we provide the truth to others Read more…

[Advice] 3 Truths of Innovation for Human Failures

Working in the space of forgiveness and reconciliation has exposed us to some unusual truths, that people and organizations experiencing conflict situations in the more “concrete” segments of our world–such as the workplace, or the school–would rather ignore. The first truth is that people in conflict are truly people and bring all Read more…

[Strategy] Death By Powerpoint

Multiple skills are required to be successful as a conflict resolution consultant, but none are as important as presenting and pitching. Corporations, non-profits and other groups are used to presenting using Powerpoint as a way to anchor their points. We’ve all been through the presentation that was similar to dying Read more…

3 Easy Pieces

There are three areas to cover before the mediation process can begin: Establish and maintaining rapport with the parties Building credibility throughout the process through the use of honesty and truth Listening to stories, watching non-verbal cueing, and monitoring the active and passive stress responses of the participants. Once a Read more…

Garage Sale Mediation

Garage sales are the closest that many people will get to the retail experience in their own home. A number of items in the household are determined to be of value—sentimental, monetary, emotional or utilitarian—and then they are selected and sold to others. The display of items is critical—the better Read more…