The courage to make the decision to act in the first place is the thing that is lacking the most. The courage to raise our hands, take responsibility, and to engage with accountability (rather than assigning blame or taking credit) is the work that your children will eventually be paid Read more…
There can be truth and justice and civility in a civil society. For if we sacrifice any of the three—in service of achieving any one of the others—the pillars of civil society fall apart. And then, we become the very monsters of oppression we are fighting to destroy.
Studies show that people don’t leave workplaces, they leave bosses. And at a deeper level, people don’t leave workplaces, or bosses, they leave the conflict cultures that are developed, tolerated and supported in the organization. We can argue all we want for better workplaces (that certainly happens in this space) Read more…
The steps toward forgiveness and reconciliation include the giving of—and getting of—grace. We don’t often think about grace (other than maybe as a person’s name, in light of physical attributes, or as a ritual that some families perform before a meal) but the fact is, there used to be public, Read more…
Taking a holiday from conflict—either from managing them or resolving them—is something too many of us are engaged in too regularly. A holiday is supposed to be a break and a time of renewal, yes, but it is also to be a time of mindfulness, refocusing, reframing, and rededicating ourselves, Read more…
It is important to note that strategy in managing people in conflicts is still considered by many to be a talent, rather than an attainable skill. In a conflict, thinking about how to manage it effectively requires exercising all the same planning and engagement that engaging in the conflict in Read more…
There are two actions that you can do with expectations in a conflict situation: Raise them. Lower them. Raising expectations (either through pursuing management, resolution, or reconciliation of a conflict) comes with its own set of problems. When expectations are raised, they wind up being discussed. When they are discussed, Read more…
“There’s a real lack of moral fiber,” he said, before launching into a story about local criminality, theft, drug smuggling, and a situation that—while murder may not have happened yet—was certainly in the offering. “It’s almost like No Country For Old Men,” another party in the conversation quipped. Trying to Read more…
In every training, workshop, seminar, or presentation, there are participants who don’t want the stories, the philosophies, or the underlying data. They merely want the skills. The bullet points that will allow them to plug-in to a situation or conflict, and make it turn out in the most optimum way Read more…
Selling to people in businesses is hard for three important reasons: There are very few (or no) champions of your product or service offering because no one knows how good your product or service offering is inside the organization you’re selling to. There are no direct ways to influence the Read more…