If then else: The computer programmer's approach to mediating conflict

How our brain works cannot easily be mapped into a computer.  Ironically, the workings of a computer can be applied to our daily thought and practice, and lead to re-wiring of our brains. One of my earlier careers was as computer programmer, coding IBM software applications.  If there was one programming technique I used more […]

"Out" your assets to expose your collaborative potential

Each one of us has gifts to offer, whether you’re a bookkeeper, beekeeper, barber.  Do you know the gifts of that person sitting across from you? Do you know what yours are? Your gifts are assets. Identifying and sharing those assets can increase the value of whatever situation, team, organization, neighbourhood, association, city, you are […]

At the CORE: How social media is re-shaping the business of conflict resolution

As part of the CORE Conflict Resolution Clinic speaker series, I gave a presentation last week on the topic of how social media is re-shaping the business of conflict resolution. The audience was 18 arbitrators, mediators, lawyers, tribunal officers, and other conflict resolution professionals.  The talk was held in the office of KPMG, in downtown […]

4 Factors that are reshaping the world of conflict resolution

From my feeds (RSS, Twitter), I’ve recently come across some interesting goings on in the world of conflict/dispute resolution.  And as much of it jives with my own experience and take on resolving conflicts, I thought I’d summarize, with a few examples, what I see as key factors impacting the practice of conflict resolution, going […]

Gift the "open source' spirit to your next collaboration

Open Source is both a way of working together and a state-of-mind.  Typically associated with an approach to software development, it’s also a philosophy, and something I think aligns with a spirit of generosity and authentic collaboration, even if your project is not focused on software development. The Open Source spirit Brian Behlendorf is a […]