The book on Conflict Mastery

“You make me angry.” “Don’t get your noise out of joint.” “Settle down.” “Just ‘cause I said it, don’t mean that I meant it.” We use scores of phrases like these when involved in interpersonal conflict. If not spoken out loud, we speak them inside our head. Needless to say, our conflict directives rarely end the […]

Are You Configuring The Future to Suit The Facts?

“I never guess. It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts.” Sherlock Holmes in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s, A Scandal in Bohemia. According to German psychologist, Gerd Gerzenger of the Max Plank Institute, relying on your intuition […]

Facing The Conflict Monster

“Knowing I’m a weak person, my mom advised me that whenever I felt scared or fearful, that’s exactly the right moment to jump in head first to face the monster by looking him in the eye. And I’ve found that when I get that close to the “monster”, I stop being afraid because I lose […]

The risk of letting others do your work: Loss of connection

When I let others do my cooking, I hand over control.  And, in handing over that control, I sacrifice connection.  When I choose to go fast food over home cooking, I’ve removed myself from the connection between food ‘au naturel’ and finished product.  There is risk-reward in letting others do your work.    No human, […]

Speculations on a machine-human interface to reduce your zone of conflict

When you find yourself in difficult conversation, are you quick to the defensive?  Or, maybe you lash out, unintentionally, with a few harsh words to the other person?   Sometimes we need a little help, to get ourselves under control.    There must be an ‘app’ that can help, right? A recent post on IdeaConnection, […]