Molly Klapper's book Definitive Creative Impasse-Breaking Techniques in Mediation features an insightful and practical contribution by Dwight Golann about "insulting" opening offers or demands. He suggests why they are made, how they can be conveyed by a mediator, and how they can be converted to useful negotiations. ...
The second post on Molly Klapper's book, Definitive Creative Impasse-Breaking Techniques in Mediation, focuses on a deceptively simple and profoundly wise short essay by Laura Kaster, Addressing Impasse by Helping the Parties Value the Case. She opens her piece with a "much overlooked but obvious" point: "Settling or mediating a...
Jane Gunn's new book is the first ADR volume I have read whose introduction begins "This is not a sex manual!" Well, neither is it a self-help book, nor a reminder of the virtues of candid conversation, nor a refresher on the teachings of the Buddha or Jesus. Yet all that...
It is curious that, as formal training in private negotiation increases, the quality of public negotiation has fallen into such disrepair. Business people negotiating a private deal are trained to listen attentively, in order to discover their counterparty's interests, and to devise beneficial options that accomodate them. Yet listening is something one seldom...
A recent post noted that Wang Cheng Jie, Secretary General of the Mediation Centers of the China Center for Promotion of International Trade, delivered an insightful and provocative presentation at the World Mediation Forum in Athens on March 12. Mr. Wang has kindly given permission for his remarks to appear on...
Attention must be paid to an important new publication from the Insurance Institute of London, Alternative Dispute Resolution in Practice. Written by a team of contributors (of which I am one) under the Chairmanship of Paul Moss of Montpelier Re, and assembled through the tireless efforts of General Editor Alex...
Readers may remember a post concerning game theory and negotiation strategy that appeared in April 2010. It has proven one of the most frequently visited posts in the past year. A featured speaker on the panel reported in that post has contacted me to advise that many of his ideas have...