It is natural for people to get defensive when they are in conflict. In this post, I’d like to suggest some other approaches that are more beneficial and may produce a better outcome. Rather than engaging in defensive communication, try the following: stay centered, breathe deeply, stay positive, listen to what the other person is…

Since training is one of the hats I wear, I frequently get calls from people who say, “Do you offer training to become a certified mediator?” or “Do you offer mediator certification training?”  I explain that I offer mediation training and upon completion attendees receive a certificate of attendance.  This does not mean you are…

Alternative or appropriate dispute resolution (ADR) has become a big part of the legal and business landscape in the past thirty years.  With the advent of technology and the exponential growth of international commercial transactions, dispute resolution and the legal system will need to continue to evolve and a series of national and international conferences…

Travel abroad—it expands your horizons and perspectives, whether it is for vacation or your profession. You learn about and experience another culture and language, history and geography.  It changes you. You return with some new insight and an appreciation for the bounties we have in the United States of America. At the end of June…

In the last four or five years, the internet has been in an uproar over, oddly, photoshop. It turns out the flawless dreamy skin and hourglass shapes plastered across magazine covers are generally not depictions of amazing humans; they are, rather, the portrayals of a gigantic social fantasy reproduced and made possible by sophisticated image…

NEWSLETTER EDITION: JUNE 2016 Since I do conflict for a living colleagues often share their stories with me. A few months ago over lunch with a CPA colleague she told me about some issues that were going on in her firm with senior partners retiring and the ensuing difficulties that she and other younger partners…