My husband and I recently went on a cruise. One of the stops was Nassau, Bahamas. While my husband was looking for something in a shop, I wondered off and into a jewelry store. There, I was given a refresher course in negotiation tactics. I was looking at rings when the salesman approached me. I [...]
No doubt you have had these same thoughts: after hearing or reading something, you wonder what on earth was the person thinking? Were they on drugs or something? Where was their self-restraint or the little person inside their head yelling “NO!NO!NO! DON’T DO IT!” This musing is brought about by a partially published opinion issued [...]
In preparing to teach a class on mediation ethics, I read Mediation Ethics edited by Ellen Waldman (Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, 2011). In it, she makes a point I had never thought about: The Model Standards of Conduct for Mediators are inconsistent. (Id. at 13-14.) (“Model Standards”) While the Model Standards are not law, they are [...]
I recently read a blog post entitled, How To Make Decisions Like a Leader in 2019 appearing on the Leadership Freak website. While the article talks in terms of making decisions as a leader, its strategies apply equally well to any negotiation. For example, first and foremost, the author notes that it is important [...]
Recently, I attended a training on cross cultural communication presented by Jason Harper as part of the Los Angeles County Bar Association training for mediators. During the presentation, Mr. Harper discussed “low-context” and “high -context” communications in terms of relationships vs rights. But first, some definitions: The concepts of high context and low context refer [...]
In a recent blog, I mentioned that I attended a seminar presented by Professor Blondell discussing ethical fading in mediation. At one point, she mentioned the SINS scale which I had not heard about. In 2000, Robert Robinson, Roy Lewicki and Eileen M. Donahue wrote an article, entitled, Extending and testing a five factor model [...]
Having attended both undergraduate and law school at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana, I am a Saints fan and like many, watched the game between the Saints and the Los Angeles Ram including the quite controversial pass interference and helmet to helmet “non-call” occurring with less than two minutes to go in the game: [...]
I just finished reading Becoming by Michelle Obama (Crown Publishing 2018). While the book is an autobiography of the former First Lady, its theme is more than just a story about how some African American kid from the Southside of Chicago broke multiple barriers to become a world known public figure. It is about empathy, [...]