One of the most enjoyable aspects of the festive season is receiving and reading books that one might not have come across otherwise.
This year, I have been enjoying two quite contrasting works of…
Twice today I've found myself responding to mediator reflections in these terms: the money's not about the money. Both cases involved financial negotiation, even haggling, but that's deceptive. The…
“You’ve done what?”
It took just a moment. The red mist descended. The words were out before I could haul them back in. “You’ve just gone behind my back and undermined what I set out, and we had…
“What’s the point?” asked the preacher, rhetorically. “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity” was his text, taken from Ecclesiastes, an Old Testament book apparently attributed to Solomon, whose wisdom…
(I first wrote about mediation's values 12 years ago at the tail end of a Masters in Conflict Resolution and Mediation Studies.(1) Two years of study had convinced me that it is our values, rather…
“For nobody would understand,
And you kill what you fear,
And you fear what you don't understand.”
Powerful words. As a progressive rock music aficionado, these lyrics taken from the song "Duke’s…
To paraphrase a worldwide cliché, you wait decades for a Mediation Act and two come along at once. On this typically dreich Scottish summer afternoon I find myself in the surprising…
Being a mediator brings surprises along the way. For me, I was presented with what turned out to be the biggest challenge of my professional career last November when the Cabinet Secretary for Health…
Place matters
It's good to see authors on this blog referencing academic research - see Rick Weiler's recent post on decision-making. Similarly, a new chapter by Singapore judicial mediator Dorcas…
A number of recent mediations have reaffirmed some essentials which I share here in the hope that they might be helpful to others:
It’s not all about the money. Mr A had a very substantial claim…
